Psalm 19:12-14 "Hidden Faults & Presumptuous Sins"

Psalm 19:12-14

Who can discern his errors?

    Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

    let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

    and innocent of great transgression.

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

    be acceptable in your sight,

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Comments:

In this great psalm about God’s revelation, there is something so real and personal about these verses. The psalm starts with a hymn declaring the natural revelation of God (in creation) that testifies to God's glory (v.1-6). Then it speaks of the special revelation of God (in the Bible) that shows me the way of salvation (v.7-11) poetically describing the Bible and how it benefits us (i.e., reviving our heart, making us wise, bringing joy, enlightening our eyes, lasting forever, completely as we should be, bringing a great reward). 

Having considered these two revelations of God, the psalmist looked inward and found his own unworthiness. I don't know about you but I am constantly praying that my "personal" revelation...what I say and do will be found to be in harmony with both the natural and the special revelations of God! Because of this, it is in verse 12 that I find my focus today.

 

The psalmist’s declaration, “Who can discern his errors?” tells us that we are generally unable to accurately view our own sinfulness. When we consider our own lives, we gaze through a window that is more distorted than a fun-house mirror (Jer. 17:9) and dirtier than a window after a house fire. We normally see the sins of others fairly clearly, but tend to see our own only through a more nuanced filter.

It is the Word of God that sounds like a foghorn through the self-deception of our sin. It is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit often uses to search out our hearts. The law shows us where we have fallen short and how much we need God’s deliverance. Salvation starts working in us when we have our eyes opened to see that we actually need to be saved and that we are unworthy of it. In the New Testament, the Apostle John wrote in opposition to those who denied having a sin nature and having personally committed sins saying,

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

If we realize we have sinned, the best course of action is to admit it (confess) to God. Why would we do that? We would confess our failures, weaknesses, and rebellions because God has always loved us and desires to forgive us and cleanse us from all our sin. Salvation has never been about our worthiness (which is compared to filthy rags or a polluted garment—Isaiah 64:6) but about receiving God’s mercy.

The palmist’s second statement in v. 12 is along the same lines as something John or Paul might have written hundreds of years later. “Declare me innocent from hidden faults” is not a request that God would declare that he had done no wrong, but that God might forgive any wrong that he had done. That is the heart cry of all who know the heaviness of their own sin and the hopelessness of trying to atone for it ourselves.

We receive forgiveness by the gift of God in Christ. But the psalmist understands that his desire to bring his life into alignment with the natural and special revelation of the holy and loving character of the Lord needs to issue forth in a new way of living. A way of life that requires the continuous work of the Lord in our daily thoughts and actions. A person who has been set free from slavery has a healthy fear of ever going back into that oppression so too it is with sin.

"Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

    let them not have dominion over me!" (v. 13a)

This line reminds me of how Jesus taught the disciples to pray, 

       “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)

As I have said in the past, God is there and he has spoken (a Francis Schaeffer title) both generally in creation, specifically in the Bible, and finally in Christ. It is by use of his Word that we can stay on track, free from presumption, and living into the calling and blessing that we have in Christ. His word transforms my mind and emotions as I see his love poured out. My affection for Jesus changes my behavior...not the other way around.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

    be acceptable in your sight,

    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (v.14)

This prayer cannot be answered until we confess our need for forgiveness, and put our trust in the Lord himself to make our forgiveness a reality, and the love of Christ has captivated me.

But this passage is not merely true of us as individuals...but should be viewed collectively.

• Can we as small groups, congregations, denominations, and movements discern our own errors? Disunity.
• Can leaders see their own tendency to be corrupted by the very power, privilege, and influence which they wield?  Distrust.
• Have we the insight to see how we look down on others from our position of education and economics (by what rubric do we assign value to our fellow humans)? Disrespect.

You tell me…

I tend to think that we still need the witness of the Word applied to our collective life and path to see where we have sinned against those within and without. We still need the grace of God to bring healing where we have even unintentionally caused hurt. We still need the more biblical leading of the Spirit to not fall into the same bondages that litter our collective past. We still need to follow Jesus in the way of the cross (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23).

Even the prophet needs a prophet, or our hidden errors become presumptuous sins.