Catching Fire: The Power of Our WordsSample

Reading through the book of Psalms can sometimes feel like reading someone else’s journal. You get the sense of eavesdropping on a private conversation between the psalmist and God. That can feel like a relief because you find that people from thousands of years ago aren’t that different from us now. In this prayer from today’s Psalm, the writer asks God to help in two distinct areas, their words and heart are woven together.

The psalmist knew that what we meditate on (what we focus on internally) is reflected in the words we speak. There is a connection between our words and our hearts, a relationship between the two where they don’t exist separately from one another. Maybe the best part of this psalm is the name the writer uses for God - Redeemer.

In other words, their prayer was that what comes from their hearts and mind would please God. By naming God the Redeemer, the writer acknowledges that when their words and heart meditations aren’t pleasing, even then, God can do something to make things right. Nothing is a lost cause to God. In God, all things can be made right and new.