How Will You Respond?

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

-- Psalm 19:12-14 ESV

Up to this point in Psalm 19, David has been contemplating God’s glory and the wonders of His word. Now he turns his thoughts inward (verse 12) and what he sees leads him to prayer. I think this is a natural response when we begin to understand who God is and what He has done for us.

If I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that I do a lot of selfish things during the course of a day. I’m not always thinking about whether or not this choice I’m making is honoring God or not. I might not be putting much thought into it at all.

But when I take the time to really focus in on God and spend time considering His greatness, I always come back to prayer like David does in this psalm. I want God to show me where I’ve fallen short or let error creep into my thinking so that I can confess and be forgiven. (1 John 1:9) Even more, I want Him to help me avoid those temptations in the future, to keep me back from those thoughtless, selfish sins.

I want everything I think, everything I say, and everything I do to be pleasing to my Father who loves me so much regardless of my faults.

Think About:

• How does meditating on who God is affect what you do?

• Are there areas in your life where your thoughts, words, or actions are not pleasing to the Lord?