Read Psalm 19

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Every eloquent line in this 19th Psalm is deserving of attention. I wish I could see the place where King David sat as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to declare the wonders of God’s majesty and his worshipful response to the LORD’s wonders. You can feel emotion behind every word and a reverent tone beneath each thought. When King David delivered this Psalm to the Chief Musician to compose music for it, oh, how terrifying of a task it must have been to design a beautiful melody for such divine words! Yet, I envy the Chief Musician. He was probably the first person, besides David, to read this graceful Psalm.

The Psalm begins by declaring what creation is already declaring: the glory of God! The heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon and stars — all of it is crying out and revealing the knowledge of God. Truly, at the Triumphal Entry, Christ was not overplaying His words when He said that even the rocks would cry out if we didn't! (see Luke 19:40). And it doesn't stop there. David goes on to proclaim the perfection of God's Word, and the refreshment it carries for the one who delights in it, and the protection it provides for the one who trusts in it.

All of this guides the reader — you and I — to the climax and conclusion of the Psalm in verse 14, where we discover a prayer of desire built on the foundation of God's grace. David becomes so humbled by God’s creation and perfection that all he is left to do is petition the Most High God for the ability to be acceptable in His sight.

How beautiful! Like a son who seeks the favor of his father — not for gain, or for glory, or for promotion — but simply because his father’s acceptance defines him. So too does God’s acceptance of us define us. But how could God accept us? In our natural state we are worms!

“But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised of the people.” (Psalm 22:6)

The answer is God’s glorious grace provided by the blood of Jesus Christ. Under the banner of this grace we have been given the right to become children of God!

“But as many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12–13)

To think — that hundreds of years before the Messiah would usher in the New Covenant of grace — David already sang of it! Truly he was a man after God’s own heart. He was a man who understood his need for grace, and by such grace he appeals to be acceptable before God’s throne, both in word and in deed. Was this not the same declaration of the Apostle Paul who just as eloquently preached:

“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…” (1 Corinthians 15:9–10)

This was Paul’s way of saying: The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart have become acceptable in God's sight by grace.

Beloved, may you as well pray this prayer by the amazing grace of God. You are acceptable in His sight because of Jesus, and therefore the words of your mouth can sing in unison with the meditation of your heart that God is your Strength and your Redeemer.

“[Be] singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 5:19–20)

‍