Mind Meld of A Different Kind

PSALM 19
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

The skies display his craftsmanship.

Day after day they continue to speak;

night after night they make him known.

They speak without a sound or word;

their voice is never heard.

Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.

God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.

It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.

It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.

The sun rises at one end of the heavens

and follows its course to the other end.

Nothing can hide from its heat.

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul.

The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are clear,

giving insight for living.

Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever….

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?

Cleanse me from these hidden faults.

Keep your servant from deliberate sins!

Don’t let them control me.

Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Faithful witness
Creation really does speak of God faithfully. I have planted millions of seeds as a farmer and watched how God took a hard shelled seed of corn and transformed it into a vibrant green plant 14 feet tall with two golden ears of corn each having 300+ seeds on them. All of this from dirt, rain, sun and time. No effort of mine can create a stalk of corn, yet as seeds, dirt, sun and time respond to God’s leading they testify to God’s awesome power and love.

Not so with the human race. We defy the power of God, running from the voice of our creator, trying to grow ourselves. We think we don’t need God; we can do life on our own. Even those who have responded to the call of God and are seeking Him, fail to testify to God’s grace and love as faithfully as a seed of corn.

David saw creation and recognized God’s work. He saw his own life and shuddered at what was hidden inside him. I see the grass, the trees, and the fields of hay, soybeans, corn and vegetables and see a faithful response to God’s creative power. I want to be as faithful as a plant. I desire to display God’s work of grace and love as honestly and rightly as a corn plant.

Holy God, with David, I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart might be to you O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. - Dan Jones

Ordinary reverence
How can I best revere God? What kinds of words and meditations will please him? Sometimes I think the answer lies only in overtly religious words and deeds. After all, how can I revere God when I’m not thinking about him, say in prayer or meditation? And surely he feels most revered when I dress up and go to church in reverent corporate worship.

Elsewhere David and other psalmists affirm the God-honoring nature of specifically religious words and deeds. Psalm 1 speaks about meditating on God’s laws. In Psalm 15, David asks who may dwell in God’s sanctuary as if time spent in a holy place doing religious things and speaking religious words were of great value. And they are!

But in this Psalm, David affirms another rather ordinary reality that reveres God.

The heavens glory and honor God by their mere existence and daily functioning according to God’s design. Just the sun bursting across the eastern horizon reverences the God who decreed that this should happen every single morning.

So to myself. When I live my life every moment, just the way God commanded it to be, I am bringing great pleasure to the Designer. Even when I am not thinking about religious thoughts or doing religious deeds, just by living out my days as God decreed brings him pleasure.

Thank you, God, for the privilege of living for your honor just by my God-ordained existence. Whether mowing the lawn, eating a meal with my wife, or laying my head on a pillow in sleep, every move I make demonstrates your genius! May the way I think and the choices I make add to that demonstration rather than detracting from it. – Mike Leamon