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“Thought Is Speech Before God”
“Thought Is Speech Before God”
Have you ever thought about have incredible it is that mankind has not only one, but hundreds of languages and forms of communication? We are able to speak and be understood by others. We have the ability to express ourselves and reveal our minds and thoughts to those around us — but only if we choose to. Although we have so many means of communication, we are not obligated to communicate. Each person still has the capacity to hide his thoughts or feelings from his fellow man. The fact that we can choose when, how, and if we communicate means that we can also choose not to communicate. In a sense, we can hide who we truly are.
This is not true with God. Charles Spurgeon said, “thought is speech before God.” That is to say, we cannot hide anything from Him. Psalm 139 begins by saying, “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.” Think about that. God discerns our thoughts, and knows our words before we speak them. In Jeremiah 17:10 God says, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind.” Before God, our hearts are minds are open books.
This is not new to us, though. In fact, we expect God to know our thoughts when we speak silent prayers to him in our minds. Of course he hears our thoughts when we are praying! But let us not think that he only begins to listen when we start with “Dear Heavenly Father…” God hears and knows our thoughts are plainly as you read these words right now.
What does this mean for us? Hopefully, it renews in us a sense of God’s presence in our lives. He cares about what weighs on our hearts. He listens carefully to our anxieties and desires to help us. On the other hand, he knows when our thoughts do not match our speech. God understand who we truly are in our hearts. When we think evil of others, yet speak false words of kindness, God knows. Even when our thoughts dwell on things we have no business thinking, our Father sees and hears.
“No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). We work to purify our speech in order to appear pure before others. May we work diligently to purify our thoughts before our God who sees all.
