Does God accept your thoughts? Should He?
Proverbs 23:7 notes that “…As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Have you ever caught yourself by surprise? Have you ever had a reaction that, upon reflection, you wondered where the heck did that come from!? Who can truly know the thoughts and intents of their own heart? We have an idea, and in terms of the people around us, we know ourselves best, but even we are often blinded to ourselves, our motivations, the reasons behind why we do the things we do. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit, He will reveal who we really are- to ourselves.
Jeremiah 17:10 says, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to every man according to his ways…” David invited the Lord to search him, test him, to point out anything offensive and lead him in the correct path. (Psalm 139:23-24) Why? Because “…the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9) That’s why we need the Word of God!
In Psalm 19:4, David referred to the Lord as “my strength” and “my Redeemer” because he knew that he could not make his heart acceptable before the Lord on his own strength.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Furthermore, “He made their hearts, so He understands everything they do,” says Psalm 33:15 (NLT). It’s not that we intend to deceive, but we do- and worst of all, we deceive ourselves! We need a Savior!
In Psalm 19:4, David referred to the Lord as “my strength” and “my Redeemer” because he knew that he could not make his heart acceptable before the Lord on his own strength. His desire was that his heart be right before God, but no man can accomplish this because of sin.
Thought for today
The Psalmist wrote, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight” because it was his desire to please the Lord, and to be submitted, and thereby transformed by Him. We are accepted by God because of our acceptance of Jesus Christ, His Son, as our Savior. (Romans 10:9-10) Your challenge for today is to actively submit the “words of your mouth” and the things you think about to Jesus Christ, and then to worship Him by speaking worship words and thinking worship thoughts- found exclusively in His Word- and then you don’t have to worry about if God does or doesn’t accept you. He accepts His Son, and His Word- and when you are covered by those, you are accepted indeed!
