Psalm 19: Saved from Sin

First off, let me apologize that my thoughts on Psalm 19 this month have drifted from Monday to later in the week. I'm still getting used to getting back in the proverbial saddle, so I appreciate all of you bearing with me.

Since next week will begin a new month and a new chapter of Scripture, I want to focus today on the last few verses of Psalm 19, verses 11-14:

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
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.

Last week, I wrote about how David shows that the law of God, like the heavens above, speaks about God and His glory. But, unlike the heavens, His law speaks with such clarity that it has a direct effect on us. David continues this line of thinking in these verses.

The Bible teaches us that we are all sinners (e.g., Romans 3:23). And the truth is that in our sin, we are deceived, often thinking that our sin is no big deal or that we're pretty good, except for the occasional misstep. I mean, nobody's perfect, right?

Well, the Bible teaches that there's much more to it than that. Our sin is much deeper than mere foibles. Outside of Christ we are sons of disobedience and children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3). And yet we remain purposefully blind to the evil within us (Romans 1:21-22).

David, recognizing this, asks, "Who can discern his errors?" He answers in the preceding verse that God's precepts and rules warn those who follow Him. The law tells us where we have gone awry. Its clarity declares us guilty before God.

So David, knowing this warning given in the law, petitions God to be declared "innocent  from hidden faults" and to kept "back from presumptuous sins." David realizes the deceptive nature of sin and his heart's bent toward waywardness, so he throws himself before God. He puts Himself at the Lord's mercy and asks, without giving any argument in his credit, to be declared innocent and blameless.

And he trusts fully that God will answer His request and declare him without fault, though he is not. He knows that God can purify even the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart. Why? Because God is his Rock and his Redeemer.

What David then could only see a shadow of we now see in greater light. God has given us redemption through the Son of David, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6-11). He has made Him not only our Rock, but our Cornerstone (Matthew 21:42). And through Jesus we are made blameless in His sight (Ephesians 1:3-5). Hallelujah! Praise God!