The Filter
by Richard Griffiths
What David is saying here is foundational for godly living. He says that he has put his hope in God’s laws. By this he means that he trusts God to fulfil His will in accordance with His purposes. The Hebrew word for ‘laws’ carries with it the idea of justice.
In a world that is full of injustice, it is so tempting to react in ungodly ways – to take the law into our own hands or to say sinful things. When David says that he has put his hope in God’s laws, he is telling us that he has decided against that. God’s word is in his heart so that he may obey it.
Every day, we are bombarded with things that are pretty ungodly. They find their way into our hearts – our thoughts and our feelings. And, because ‘the mouth speaks what the heart is full of’ (Luke 6:45), they often come out as words.
The tap-water that we drink every day, is very pure. Before it reaches us, it has been filtered so that every impurity has been taken away. If the word of God has found its place in our heart, it acts like a filter. It alerts our conscience to sinful things and keeps the heart pure. It becomes a template against which we measure our thoughts, feelings and decisions. It ensures that what we do and say is consistent with the heart of God.
But even so, we sometimes find ourselves saying things without thinking – sinful things. So, David says that he wants God’s word to be in his mouth as well as in his heart. I don’t think he means that he’ll be constantly quoting Scripture. But he does mean that he wants everything that he says to be consistent with the word of God.
And this is something that he really wants. Our translation is, ‘Never take your word’. But the Hebrew is more like, ‘Never ever take your word’. It’s as if he’s asking God to make sure that the filter isn’t just in his heart, but in his mouth as well – always!
I wonder if he was thinking of Deuteronomy 30:14: ‘the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it’. That obedience is as much in what we say as in what we do. What God wants is that we so receive His word into our hearts that all that we say in consistent with it, allowing everything to pass through ‘the filter’.
Richard Griffiths When Richard retired from full-time Anglican ministry in Chichester in 2009, he and his wife, Sue, moved to Northumberland. He joined the ministry team at Ellel Grange in 2011, where he and Sue regularly ministered at healing retreats. They are now helping on the "Explore" team. They greatly enjoy walking in the beautiful Northumberland countryside and along the coast. Richard loves seeing God bringing people into a strong personal relationship with Him as their Father and the healing that comes with it.
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