“I Say…”

Psalm 16:2 I say to the LORD “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

It is amazing the things people say these days. The language they use to describe themselves and the world in which they live is telling of the state of their inner world. What is in their heart truly speaks.

And what we speak about ourselves and our world does have consequences. Our brain and body respond to the messages we give to ourselves. So it is important the input we allow to be entered into our minds. Messages matter.

I have known some spouses in abusive situations who felt compelled to read every nasty message sent by their spouse, even as they were going through a divorce. And every time they read one of those messages, they would cycle into a barrage of self-condemning thoughts and actions.

I will often ask if they need permission to not read those messages. If they need permission, I give it to them. And it is almost miraculous how their mood and choices change following this simple change in input.

You can choose to not answer the phone when the person on the other end of the ring can never have a phone conversation of less than two hours. You don’t have to pick it up. You can let it go to voicemail. You can make that choice to not give that two hours away.

Our conversations about ourselves and our relationship with the LORD shape our life, not just our spirit. Our text is one example from this short psalm of the author, and thus the community of the faithful, can direct our lives.

The psalmist begins with a common prayer even today: keep me safe. But It isn’t simply “traveling mercies” he seeks. The first object of his safe life has to do with his choices.

He says to the LORD, You are in the place of authority in my life. That is what it means to say someone is your “lord.” There can be only one lord in your life, and we can choose that master, the one who will call the shots.

And this calling the shots is in the area of what we choose to pursue, our choices, our goals, the measure of our success. The psalmist declares that the “good things” that he wants in life are to be intimately connected to the LORD. There is no “good thing” apart from the will of God.

Is that true in your life? Are the “good things” you pursue the LORD’s good things? And do you declare that value in His presence, in the presence of His people. Do you join with others in a unified life of devotion seeking the LORD’s good things?