The Grammar Nut

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be pleasing in your sight, O God, my Strength and my Redeemer.  Ps. 19:14

I'm an English grammar nut.  Yes, I know, sometimes I DO start my sentences with "And" and "But," but believe me, I know I'm not really supposed to begin sentences with conjunctions in formal writing.  It's taken a lot of practice for me to be able to utilize those words in that capacity.  I still cringe, but I'm also a grammar rebel at heart!

Because of my grammar fixation, my eyes pay attention to every little comma, every set of quotation marks, every semicolon,  etc...  This morning was no exception.  As I read the Gideon-placed, hotel Bible, the abundant use of a possessive pronoun held me captive.  In the above verse, the word "my" appears 4 times - my mouth, my heart, my Strength, my Redeemer.

My Mouth:
The psalmist prayed "let the words of my mouth...be pleasing in Your sight."  Personally, I'd almost rather see "let the words of someone else's mouth."  That way, it wouldn't be so personal...so convicting.  Yet, the psalmist wanted this to be personal.  He wanted HIS words coming out of HIS mouth to please Jesus.

My Heart: 
Again, wouldn't it be so much easier and less convicting if the things spoken of - the feelings we allow to consume us, the fears we let overwhelm us, the thoughts we let override our righteous behavior - if all these things, belonged to someone else!  However, the psalmist knew it would not do any of us any good to pray for others in this regard, unless we, ourselves, were right before the Lord.

My Strength:
The last two possessives in the verse are really sweet...the first being, "my Strength."  You know, God never uses words in His Word without a purpose.  That's why I find the psalmist calling God - my Strength - very sweet.  He was asking his personal God to let the words and the things he would think throughout his life, be pleasing.  He also knew this wasn't just going to happen.  He knew his own sinfulness and weaknesses.  So, in order for his words and the motives of his heart to be pure, the psalmist would need supernatural help.  He would need HIS God to be his Strength. 

My Redeemer:
And then (there's that grammar rebel again!), he uses the possessive pronoun one more time - "my Redeemer."  Now, this is beautiful to me.  For you see, the psalmist probably knew that eventually in his human form, he would not choose to use God as his Strength.  He would stumble, and the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart would be less than pleasing to his God.  Yet, he knew God to be not just his Strength, but his Redeemer.  He knew that even if he did fail, God could and would "buy back" or "redeem" his failures for his ultimate good and for God's glory.  How beautiful is that!?!

So, in light of all this, there's only one thing to do at this point - make this verse our very own - make it personal.  Let's pray...

Lord Jesus, today, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You today, O God, my Strength and my Redeemer.