During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
When I was a student in college, my home church called a new pastor. I experienced him first when I went home one weekend to see my parents and went to church with them on Sunday morning. (Yes, some college students actually get up and go to church!)
Howard was a tall, imposing man with a head full of blond hair and an athletic build. He was the first pastor I knew who walked into the pulpit without a scrap of a note with him while holding the sermon in his mind and soul, and he had the ability to deliver it flawlessly.
Every Sunday he would climb up into the pulpit of the church, and ask the congregation to pray with him. I can still see him clasping his hands together in front of his chest, bowing his head in silence for a moment, then quoting this verse from Psalm 19.
I’m sure I had read it or heard it before, but never in that context. This verse was his prayer before every sermon. I’ve since heard countless preachers use the verse in the same way.
Howard’s use of this verse struck a chord in me. I recall being at a multi-day Christian concert, where hundreds, maybe thousands, of people camped and worshipped and sang for days. Wandering the area around the stage one afternoon I found a sizeable rock with a couple of flat sides. I took it home, cleaned it up, and used model airplane paint to write this verse on it. That rock sat on a shelf in my college dorm room until at some point it was “tidied up out of existence.”
Today, I wish I still had it to connect me to that time in my life, that preacher who helped to shape my heart and soul, and to the Lord, who is to this day “my Rock and my Redeemer.”
But even without that stone, this verse remains a prayer for me—not only on those days when I am privileged to preach; but every day as a guiding light to help me strive to live the life God intends for me.
For Reflection
- What is—or who is—a pivotal place, time, or person in your spiritual journey?
- Is there a standard verse or prayer that you use to structure your day? What is it?
Prayer
God of grace and glory, I confess that there are words that come out of my mouth that do not honor you. I admit that there are meditations of my heart that I know are not pleasing to you. Yet I come to this moment wanting to please you, and to use my day to glorify you. Today, may these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Through Jesus I pray, Amen.
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Devotionals