The Meditation of My Heart
Some of us need to realize that we possess hurtful patterns of behavior that are deeply seared upon our souls and our psyches.
Have you ever been guilty of using a person for your own ends without even knowing it? Have you ever taken advantage of people without realizing you were hurting them? Have you watched while people in powerful positions crushed those underneath them? Have you seen parents manipulate children and vice versa?
Many times we act in our own self-interest without being aware that we are doing so.
The psalmist wrote about this long before any psychology class was taught or any theory of counseling was developed. If you begin to let God’s Spirit have his way in your life, you will find that he reveals to you your patterns of behavior and coping mechanisms that are sinful and harmful to other persons.
We can pray along with the psalmist, “Lord, there are hidden sins in me that I don’t even know about. What do I do about them?” The psalmist prayed that God would hold him innocent until he became aware of his presumptuous sins and could fix them. He asked God to keep him from these sins committed in ignorance. He ends the psalm by saying,
Keep Your servant from presumptuous sins;
Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:13-14 NASB
We are prone to selfishness but called to selflessness. Kinslaw offers, ”If you begin to let God’s Spirit have his way in your life, you will find that he reveals to you your patterns of behavior and coping mechanisms that are sinful and harmful to other persons.” May it be so! As you reflect on today’s devotional thought, might the words of Psalm 19 above form a fitting prayer: Lord, in my actions (presumptuous sins), my words (the words of my mouth) and even my thoughts (the meditations of my heart), be pleasing to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics