Acceptable in thy Sight

Today’s Passage – Psalm 16 – 20

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

I love the Word of God. I thoroughly enjoyed the Book of Job; but I am also having a wonderful time each morning in the Psalms. As I read this morning, I was captured by the beauty of Psalm 19. Verses 1-6 are expressions of David’s worship of God. Verses 7 – 11 are remarks that lift up the Word of God, and the reader is admonished to place a higher value on the Word of God than gold. Great Advice!

However, the verses that really caught my attention were verses 12 – 14 where David prays to God regarding God’s help in keeping him from sin. In verses 12 and 13, he speaks of secret sins and presumptuous sins. The presumptuous sins are those that we do blatantly, proudly, and in public view. David begs God’s help in the removal of these things.

Verse 14 is the prayer that all of us should have on our lips and in our hearts the moment that we awake from sleep. How often do we violate our relationship with God by allowing evil thoughts to take hold of our meditations. we muse on things that are clearly outside of the will of God. Ask God to control your thought life. The minute the devil causes you to think about something that is wrong, take it to God. Ask Him to help you. Purposely divert your thoughts to things that are true, honest, just, and pure, etc. Our sin begins with the musings of our heart.

Notice also the petition regarding his words. Oh how I wish that I could take back some of my words. The tongue can be a consuming fire, a deadly poison. Why not ask God to help you get your tongue under control.

I wonder how many mistakes we could have avoided in the past had we made this our prayer? We don’t have to make the same mistake in the future. Let God control your thought life and your tongue!

My Thoughts and Words

June 19, 2026

In "Thoughts from Psalms"

My Thoughts and Words

June 19, 2011

In "Devotions"

A Prayer From Psalm 119 – The Saturday Morning Post by Pastor Ted Stahl

May 25, 2013

In "Guest Posts"

Phil Erickson

Pastor Phil Erickson has been the pastor of Jersey Shore Baptist Church since January of 2002. Having grown up in Ocean County, Pastor Phil has always had a burden for the south Jersey area. After graduating from Bible College in Longview, Texas, he and his family moved to Galloway Township with the vision of digging in and serving the Lord and the people of Atlantic County. Pastor Phil and Cindy Erickson have been married since 1985. They have four children and ten grandchildren. Their oldest son, Phil Jr. and his wife Katelyn are serving the Lord in Egg Harbor Twp., NJ. Their oldest daughter, Melissa, is married to Wesley Clayton who is in the Air Force and is currently stationed in New Mexico. Samantha, their third child, is married to Justin Mears and they are both serving the Lord at the church in Galloway. Hannah, the youngest, is married to Lucas McCollum, and they are also serving here in Galloway. In preparation for ministry, the Lord led him through a variety of educational experiences that have equipped him to serve the Lord and His people. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgian Court University, a Bachelor of Biblical Studies in Pastoral Theology from Texas Independent Baptist Seminary (formerly Texas Baptist College), a Master of Religious Education in Bible from West Coast Baptist College, and a Master of Biblical Studies from The Crown College. More recently, he completed a Graduate Certificate in Biblical Counseling and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Veritas Baptist College. He is thankful for these opportunities to study God’s Word more deeply, and counts it a privilege to use whatever knowledge the Lord has given him for the building up of His church. In addition to pastoring, the Lord has given Phil the wonderful privilege of teaching as an adjunct professor at Vision Baptist College in Berlin, NJ and Veritas Baptist College.

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Gary Geiger says:

June 29, 2010 at 6:57 am

We tend to focus so much of our attention on what comes out of the mouth, I guess because it's what we see, what we hear. Four words struck me with verse 19: "meditation of my heart" I'm sure most people have heard this saying; "The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart" The next time your offended by the words of another christian consider that their heart may be damaged, burdened, twisted, scorned or broken. I believe scripture says that the "heart" is exceedingly wicked, who can know it. We are so quick, myself included, to judge the words of a person but the funny thing is we cannot see their heart. So the next time a christian says something that offends you try to meditate on the condition of your heart. Ask yourself, Have I ever said offensive things? Pray that God changes your conversation and the conversation of others by cleansing the heart through thy word.
Meredith says:

June 28, 2010 at 4:55 pm

How true!!! So often have my actions (or my unkind words) been directly related to some thought I entertained in my mind. It is clear to me that the only way to overcome these impulses are to immerse yourself so much in the Word of God that there's not so much room for anything wrong! Which goes hand in hand with a constant and steady prayer life. I can see in myself the change between now (I've been drifting) and when I was more involved in my bible reading/prayerlife. It really does make a difference!