Psalm 19:14
{Everyday Flora in Costa Rica}
I have thought about this verse over and over {it has been a rerun in my mind constantly} the past few weeks. It is the theme verse for this Bible study I started a few weeks ago with a couple of friends.
What is the meditation of your heart? What are your thoughts that play in your mind throughout your days and sleepless nights? We can hide our doubts, fears, worries, anger, and anything else from others, but we cannot hide it from God.
"O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether."
~ Psalm 139:1-4
To everyone else, you and I may appear to have it all together. But He really knows, because he knows the thoughts that flood every second and every minute of our days.
Is it all acceptable to the Lord? Is He pleased with our constant stream of negativity, doubts, and worries that are literally clogging up the brain and taking over? You know what I am talking about. For me it is the constant thoughts of "I can't get it all done. What if this happens? What if that happens? How are we going to deal with this?" Let me tell you, I can come up with the worst possible case scenario faster than some people blink. And what have I accomplished? I have accomplished nothing but anguish and distress for myself and others around me. Is this how I really want to spend my life? I don't want my days to be overcome with these thoughts. And can't we really say that none of this is for the GLORY OF GOD? Not at all. How can my doubts be acceptable to Him?
This is what I want my thoughts to be. These are the things I want to take over my mind in the silence spaces of my days.
Psalm 119: 27, 48, 78, 148
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
{I want to think about His wonderful ways and works.}
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes. {I want to know his laws, his commands. You have to know them to follow them.}
78 Let the insolent be put to shame, because they have wronged me with falsehood; as for me, I will meditate on your precepts. {Just another example of placing our thoughts on His commands.}
148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.
{I want to hold onto His words and everything He has promised.}
We say we don't have time to meditate everyday. But we do. We have our thoughts all day. We have spaces there. You know we do, because we use those spaces and fill them with weeds that choke everything else out. The saying "Mind Over Matter" holds very true. Just as we choose shoes we will wear and what curtains match best, we choose what we think about.
"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." ~ Colossians 3:2
This is where my mind needs to be. All I am doing is tormenting myself. I have the choice to make my life miserable or to think about everything above. Things of Heaven are higher and better than anything on this earth {Isa. 55:9}. Worry brings fear. Jesus tells us why we don't need to worry {Matt 6:25-32}. My worries make me a prisoner in my own life.
These are the things that need to be pouring from my mind.
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." ~ Phil 4:8
Through the years I have caused my own heartache, physically and mentally, and all for nothing. I simply have to Let GO and Let God because when I do, I am free, and all I have to do is pray.
{La Paz Waterfall, Costa Rica}
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~ Phil 4:7-8
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