A couple of weeks ago, my husband started reading and writing devotionals to us, his family, via email on the Psalms. Every day, I waited to hear what wisdom and encouragement he had for us! It has been a great source of comfort during these difficult economic times. Rising to her father’s challenge,
Candace penned her response to Psalm 12:
Candace penned her response to Psalm 12:
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so here’s the verse that first struck me in psalm 12 – “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak” (verse 2).
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some of you may have noticed brooke’s recent facebook status quoting psalm 86:11 – “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”
or, as Brooke’s NIV read, “…give me an undivided heart.”
i really liked the way the Message puts it as well: “Train me, God, to walk straight; then I’ll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I’ll worship in joyful fear.”
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so after i’d been thinking about the idea of an undivided heart all week, it really started to come together this morning after reading about a double heart. especially when you read later in psalm 12, where verse 6 says: “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
what a description – pure words. i think it’s something for everyone to strive towards, to have the Lord look on our speech and call it pure. what does it mean for our words to be pure? it means they are a true reflection of our hearts. we’ve heard mom quote matthew 12:34 countless times, “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” Or as Jesus says in my ESV, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Jesus clearly speaks against feeling one thing in our heart and saying another with our mouths. that’s what psalm 12 is talking about – a double heart – where there is a lack of alignment between our thoughts and words.
it’s also exactly what leviticus 19:17 speaks against: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.”
or how David writes in psalm 66:18 – “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”
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what good are our words if they do not truly reflect the state of our heart? it’s sort of what mom always asked me growing up if i reluctantly obeyed: “are you sitting down on the outside, but standing up inside?” if i appear sweet in my words, but am secretly harboring negative thoughts, thoughts of hatred and anger, in my heart – i have failed. that’s not what God wants for us. He wants everything about us to be of one accord – our hearts, our minds, our words. it’s linked up that way for a reason – from our hearts to our minds to our mouths – our feelings direct our thoughts, our thoughts direct our words… they all must function as one. there cannot be division.
i think the Beatitudes are sometimes overlooked because we’ve all heard them countless times growing up, they cease to hold particular relevance. they sadly go from Beatitude to a platitude. but they’re there for a reason and all this focus on an undivided heart might be why Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
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gratefully, no matter how difficult it may seem to reach this kind of purity and unity in heart and mind, i can know this is what God is all about. it’s what David asked Him in psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”
and in response, God declares this is His intention as well: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).
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i’m praying for us all this week that our words would be pure and a mirror of our hearts; that our hearts and and minds would be unified and all glorifying to God.
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Lord, as we lift our eyes to the hills and look to You, our HOPE,
may our hearts and minds be unified and bring glory to You. Amen.
may our hearts and minds be unified and bring glory to You. Amen.