Nothing I hate worse than a run of 100 degree days. I get grumpy! To beat the heat in a house with an aging air conditioner, I leave the blackout curtains closed to reduce the sun exposure. I love light so that adds to my grumpiness. It seems like the heat saps the joy out of my soul. I can hardly wait for the dogdays of summer to expire!

So, of course, where did I end up today? In Psalm 19, one of my favorite psalms. David takes us to creation and shows how God speaks to everyone every day across this world. Then David turns his attention to the way God speaks to us in Scripture. Finally, he turns his attention to our hearts and applies the revelation of God to them. It is the final verse of this song that made me think about my lack of joy.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” [Psalm 19:14 NLT]

If there is a prayer that should be on my lips each day, it is this one. It reminds me that it is the meditation I allow in my heart that will affect all the words that flow from my mouth (or my keyboard!) It urges me to affirm that those meditations are pleasing to my LORD, my Rock/Strength, my Redeemer.

That word “meditate” carries the image of a musician plucking the strings of a harp. In other words, meditation is the music of the soul. 

My music has been a bit offkey in this weather and needs to change its tune! What song is your soul singing this morning?