Let the Words…
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 NRSV
I was well into my twenties when I learned that these words above were from a psalm and not just a prayer that pastors and priests all prayed before they started preaching. I had heard it so often that I thought it was something that was handed down at ordinations or during seminary education. I literally believed they were taught: “This is how you begin a sermon.” I heard so many mega-church pastors and theobros begin their sermons and talks this way that I developed an aversion to them. As soon as someone uses these words to begin a sermon, I’m on full alert. (Judgey-mcjudgerson reporting for duty!) As I’m nothing if not skilled in oppositional defiance, I decided I would never start a sermon with these words. And because I am also stubborn, I have held to it, many years and many sermons later.
But, there are many, many faithful preachers and teachers who begin their talks and sermons with these words as well, people I respect and whose words I value. So I thought that today was the day to confront whatever ick I still have remaining about these verses.
Because I don’t think they’re meant for announcing some kind of piety, realized or not.
And the only way to learn what they are meant to do is to take them in context.
These words are the final verse of Psalm 19.
They are the ending of a song of praise to God, not the beginning.
The psalmist is not asking for God to be present in the words they are about to say, they are asking for God to accept the song after they have sung it.
I sat with this for a while today.
Wondering how often I pray for God to accept whatever it is I have offered each day.
It doesn’t happen a lot that’s for sure.
Does it have to be a song, like it is for David?
Or a sermon in front of a crowd?
What about when I open the door for someone whose arms are full?
Let this offering be acceptable, O Lord.
What about that time when I stopped to smell the lilacs while walking in my neighborhood?
Let this offering be acceptable, O Lord.
What about when I didn’t respond to that mean email with another mean email?
Let this offering be acceptable, O Lord.
What if we all said some version of this all the time?
“Let the words I speak and the song in my heart all be accepted as an offering to God.”
The words “My Rock and Redeemer” are important here, too.
They imply some things about God that I don’t want to skip over.
The Hebrew word that we translate as rock can also mean refuge, shelter, or strength.
The Hebrew word for redeemer is also translated kinsman-redeemer, which, in the time and place when this was written, meant someone who is responsible for your safety if everything falls apart.
These verses are asking to accept an offering of words and song to the one David is all too aware has saved him and sheltered him.
I’m not sure if I’ve overcome the ick I feel when someone begins a sermon with these words. But I might be willing to offer them quietly to God at the end of each day as a reminder that all I can do is give what I can to the one who keeps saving me when everything keeps falling apart. “May how I spent my day, the words I spoke, the song I sang in my heart, be acceptable to you oh God, who protected and saved me throughout it.”
