KJV Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”

NASB Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

To be marked by control of “the words of my mouth” is the mark of a perfect man, according to James 3:2. We all can attest to how difficult it is to master this “little member” that can wreak such destruction and bring so much sorrow to our own hearts.

Men were amazed at the words that came from the lips of the Saviour. Over and over, Pilate was impressed with the silence of the Lord Jesus amidst the false accusations and groundless charges arrayed against Him. The Lord was, indeed, “the Perfect Man” Who was able to bridle His tongue. He knew when to speak and when to refrain from speaking, and what to say and what not to say.

But the Psalmist’s desire rises even higher than the control of his tongue. The bar is raised when he speaks of the meditation of his heart. Humanity is marked by “no fear of God” before our eyes (Rom 3:18). And the fact that “God is not in all (our) thoughts” (Ps 10:4).

If control of the tongue poses a challenge to which we have all failed, how much more our thought life! But here is a “thought-life” which was well-pleasing to the Lord. There was One Man whose every thought brought pleasure to His God. Imagine, if you can, a mind that never resorted to self-pity or selfish desires. Imagine a mind that never succumbed to a moment of pride or folly! But if we only think in the negative, we are missing what is of greater value. If we limit ourselves to what He did not think about, we are only seeing part of His beauty.

Here was a Man Whose every thought was God-centered. Here was a mind that meditated in the Law of the Lord, day and night (Ps 1). The “meditation of His heart” was well-pleasing to His God.

Thus, when Heaven was opened to declare a Father’s delight in His Son, it was not only passing a divine verdict on His ways and words. The discerning and piercing eye of the Father was plumbing depths that the human eye could not penetrate. The eye of God could discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. And as that eye weighed up and assessed all, it found only pure gold. “In Whom is all My delight” revealed a life, both inner and outer, that was continually —moment by moment and day by day, not merely satisfying the heart of a Father but bringing Him infinite joy and delight.

We are reminded that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). The treasures of His thought life can only be appreciated by us through His words. Little wonder His words were marked by such grace and truth, such mercy and love, issuing from a heart that could only think in perfect unison with His Father’s mind.

Consider:

We have an insight into the mind of Christ and the meditation of His heart in Phil 2.