"Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 13 Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer."
Psalm 19:12-14
How does God persuade a fleshly, sin enslaved people to look up and see the glory of righteousness? Once upon a time, He thundered on the mountain, then set it on fire and sounded a supernatural trumpet so loud that they could not help but tremble and fall on their faces in His presence. In a peaceful way, Psalm 19 reaches out to us by displaying the glory of God's Laws, which lead us into righteous living.
The Word of God, the Words of Christ, can save us from our sins. But we must obey all things (Matt. 28:18-20), honor His authority over us (Matt. 28:18), love Him, and fear Him with all reverence and show others the way to heaven through His Word and our godly example (Matt. 5:16). Jesus came as the ultimate expression of God's Word so that now we are without excuse. Let us marvel at His majestic Word and tremble in His presence.
I. GOD'S REVELATION THROUGH HIS WORD (LAW) DEMANDS A RESPONSE:
- Response to God's Revelation: (Psalm 19:12-14)
- "Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults" (Verse 12).
Psalm 19:12-14 is a prayer for forgiveness, with the confession of sins. Here David is asking for the forgiveness of his sins. Indeed, David acknowledges he has committed sins, many faults, and that he has made many errors in his life. He admits to his faults, flaws, and shortcomings, and so must we. David needs God's forgiveness. Moreover, David is not just concerned about those sins he is aware of but asks God to cleanse him from his hidden faults and sins. We need to have David's heart and ask God humbly to point out to us not only those flaws, faults, shortcomings, and sins in our life that we are aware of but all those things that in our day to day walk, we fail to acknowledge as sin (hidden faults). How often do we fall short of loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength?! How often do we fail God because we don't love our neighbor as ourselves?! How often do we fall short when we fail to show the love of Christ with compassion to the lost, helpless, and hopeless?! How often do we fall short when we mistreat others?! It is easy to ignore how we treat others. It is easy for us to offend others without even acknowledging that we have done something wrong.
David is clearly aware that he has fallen short, even in ways that he is not aware of. For all those times, he humbly asks forgiveness, and so must we! We must examine our hearts and purge all such terrible attitudes from our hearts before our Almighty God. And though we might not lie, steal, curse or lust, we're still falling short when we fail to love God and our neighbor completely. Why? Because our attitude of heart does not reflect Christ living in us. And since we all have hidden faults, we are constantly in need of God's forgiveness.
In verse 13, David is praying for God's deliverance from future sins. He is asking God's help to give him victory over sin. He likewise is asking God to keep him from sinning and rebelling against God. We all need to humbly approach God's throne for strength to overcome the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. David's words, "Let them not rule over me," are the appropriate response to God's revelation. Paul also said,
Therefore, sin must not be our master, for sin must not rule over us with its sinful desires. We must not surrender to our weaknesses! Just as David prayed to God in his own life to help him overcome sin, we should pray to God the same way. Under no circumstances must we let sin rule over us and be our master. Since God has delivered us from the slavery of sin, let us not turn back to it. Who are we going to allow to rule our lives and our hearts? God or Satan? We must be wise to make the righteous choice. David acknowledged he was God's servant, and therefore he asks God to help him from turning aside that he might be blameless and innocent of many transgressions.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
- "Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression" (Verse 13).
In verse 13, David is praying for God's deliverance from future sins. He is asking God's help to give him victory over sin. He likewise is asking God to keep him from sinning and rebelling against God. We all need to humbly approach God's throne for strength to overcome the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. David's words, "Let them not rule over me," are the appropriate response to God's revelation. Paul also said,
"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
Therefore, sin must not be our master, for sin must not rule over us with its sinful desires. We must not surrender to our weaknesses! Just as David prayed to God in his own life to help him overcome sin, we should pray to God the same way. Under no circumstances must we let sin rule over us and be our master. Since God has delivered us from the slavery of sin, let us not turn back to it. Who are we going to allow to rule our lives and our hearts? God or Satan? We must be wise to make the righteous choice. David acknowledged he was God's servant, and therefore he asks God to help him from turning aside that he might be blameless and innocent of many transgressions.
- "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer" (Verse 14).
In verse 14, David is praying to be acceptable and pleasing to God with his mouth and heart. God judges our actions and motives. He also searches our hearts to see if our motives and attitudes are in harmony with His righteous will. He demands that our hearts be clean in His sight. A heart without actions is worthless, as is our faith without works. No sacrifices are greater than our heart's obedience to God. We must examine and judge the motives and intentions of our hearts, for God is judging our hearts. God not only demands a good heart but a heart that bears good fruit to His glory. Remember, Uzzah had the right motive when he reached out and touched the Ark of the covenant in 2 Samuel 6, but God struck him dead for violating His Law. Do not forget that we are accountable to God for our actions. Therefore, we must examine our actions, our deeds, to make sure we're walking the path of righteousness in the sight of God. Let our prayer be three things:
- Forgiveness of past sins.
- Deliverance from future sins and
- The cleansing, transformation of our hearts and tongues, that we might be acceptable and pleasing to God.
CONCLUSION:
The more we understand God's Word, the more our sins will be manifested. God's Word will show us our faults, shortcomings, sins, and everything that is against God's righteousness. God's Word can cleanse us from the filth of sin and restrain us from committing sin. It is through the Word of God that we can be blameless (our words and thoughts) and be acceptable to God. It is in the understanding of the Word of God that His Precepts are right. His Word is never wrong. It is our everlasting foundation where our hearts can stand firm for eternity. The Bible, His Word, His Law, is infinite and boundless. It never fails us. It is perfectly suitable for every good work.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable, for REPROOF, for CORRECTION, for TRAINING in RIGHTEOUSNESS; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
May we hear and heed the words of Christ on how to be saved from our sins, deny our self daily, serve and love others, and endure to the end. May we confess our sins in prayer and ask God to help us overcome and have victory over sin. And may we have a desire to please God with our mouth and heart that we might be acceptable in His sight.
Luci
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