FUNDAMENTALS
OF DISCIPLESHIP
Psalm
19:12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from
secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O IAUE, my strength, and my redeemer.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O IAUE, my strength, and my redeemer.
Last week’s post ended with this
comment:
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Allow me to introduce a cast of fictitious
disciples.
Steve drives to work every morning down a crowded three lane
highway. He cannot just follow behind the car ahead of him until
reaching his exit. He speeds up and executes lane changes constantly,
ever striving to be the front car. He derives a sense of satisfaction
when he advances ahead of the pack more quickly than other drivers he sees
doing the same thing.
Linda is never content to do only that which is required of her. She
always does much more than is expected because she is not satisfied with
herself unless she does. This often causes her to be exhausted
physically, as well as to be late for meetings and appointments, because she is
attending to matters that are not necessary at the time.
Bill is a "happily married man;" but no matter where he is, if an
attractive woman is nearby, his eyes quickly make their way to her.
Kevin is a man who makes himself available to any and every brother or sister
in Messiah who may need a helping hand or a listening ear. He goes out of
his way to care for the needs of his brothers and sisters; but he never has a
need himself. He never allows himself to be vulnerable to anyone.
Our fictitious disciples all
have..."issues." Beyond the principle manifestation of their
issues, there is a whole gamut of secondary behaviors that spring from
them. There is something within them driving their improper behavior; and
more often than not, they do not even know what it is.
These fictitious disciples are typical
representatives of the general population of believers. We usually are not even conscious that we do
the things we do. On the contrary, we do not view these things as
weaknesses or failures on our part. We tend to see these aspects of our
life as strengths that sets us apart from other "weaker" brethren.
These issues are what we might call a "blind
spot." A blind spot is a problem that someone has, but he
cannot see it. His/her friends and associates, however, are not at all
blind to it Remember my account in previous posts of a brother who could not
think of a single thing that needed to be written down on “the Lists?” I could have filled out many items for him in
all three categories; but either his pride or his blindness would not permit
him to admit that there should be any sinful thought or deed recorded against
himself. Hence the biblical injunction to exhort one another daily while
it is still called today, lest ANY should become hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13).
This brings us to our verse for today.
Psalm
19:12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from
secret faults.
The Psalmist recognizes that there are
forces within his life that cause him to sin...almost as if against his own
will. They are "errors" ...mistakes. They are the kind of
things that, after we have done them, we are amazed at ourselves and wonder why
we did them; that is, if we even noticed them at all. The Psalmist
may not have recognized his issues on his own. His blind spots may have
been pointed out by friends or family. The really valuable thing to see
here is the posture of David's heart. ("Who can understand his errors?") He was not
attempting to defend himself. His errors
were exasperating to him. He wanted to
be purified of anything that was not perfectly pleasing to his Master. "Cleanse thou me from secret faults." David offered an earnest plea for Elohim to
purify his heart of all that offended or displeased Him. The Hebrew word
used here means "secrets"
or “things hidden" (cathar)...it does
not include the idea of "faults." David was asking Elohim to
cleanse him of his secrets...his hidden life. He recognized that his proneness
to sin was largely borne of things in his life that were kept in the dark.
David wanted to “walk in the light as He is
in the light” (1 John 1). To walk in
darkness, keeping anything in our life in the dark causes us to make many
mistakes. It is the principle means by which the devil retains influence
and sway in our lives. Darkness is his domain. Secrets are his delights.
Psalm
19:13 Keep
back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over
me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great
transgression.
David repeats his plea of verse 12 by
restating it in another way. The errors that proceed from the secrets,
the parts of our life that we keep in the dark, are "presumptuous sins." This word, "presumptuous" (zed) is found thirteen times in Scripture, and only
here is it translated “presumptuous.”
Every other time it is translated: "proud.” In other words,
the sins that proceed from areas of our life that we refuse to bring to the
light lest they be exposed for the wickedness they are emanate from nothing
more than pure pride and arrogance.
Proverbs
8:13 The fear of IAUE is to hate evil: pride, and
arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
It is important for the disciple of
Yahushua to learn, and to learn quickly, that any part of his/her life that is
kept in the dark is an aspect of their life that is turned over to the
authority of the enemy of their soul…and IAUE
hates it. Why? It is
because you yield your heart to serve a different master. No man may serve two masters; and when you
choose darkness, you choose to serve Satan. Whenever you choose to think, say
or do anything that is in the dark, you honor and give service to Satan, and
you take IAUE’s grace and kindness for granted.
The Psalmist recognizes this terrible truth and prays that IAUE would
prevent these prideful sins from having dominion over his heart. [Consider
all the times that you have contemplating doing something, and for a fleeting
moment, you realized, “I would not want (name) to know about this.” THAT, my friend, is the litmus test of
walking in darkness. If you ever prepare to do something that you know you
would not want others to know, or even just one particular person to know, you
should not do it; for it would be an act of darkness…a secret that you must
keep in your heart…a secret that will yield prideful sins in the future.]
The Psalmist recognizes that if he
brings his life into the light, and allows IAUE to cleanse him of the error of
his way, his life shall once again be "upright" and he "shall be innocent of the great transgression." (What is the "great transgression?”
David does not tell us, but we could speculate that, at the very least, it is
any sin that causes Elohim to be displeased with him. For David, any time
he lost the smile of IAUE it was a great transgression regardless of what he
might have done. Like Yahushua, David longed to do always those things
that pleased His Elohim.)
Psalm
19:14 Let
the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy
sight, O IAUE, my strength, and my redeemer.
The Psalmist had been to the Great Physician and his
condition had been diagnosed. His life was beset with prideful sins because
he had secrets in his heart that he did not want exposed to the light.
The divine surgeon, however, had been invited to purge the defilement.
When David brought into the light that which was once shrouded in darkness,
IAUE cleansed him of his secret things.
The Scripture reveals that the prescription for maintenance
of our heart AFTER we have allowed the Light of IAUE to expose everything we
have kept in the dark is: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my
heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O IAUE..." David guarded his mouth and his heart against anything
that he would naturally want to keep in the dark.
David did not depend on his own strength
to do this. "O IAUE, my strength, and my redeemer." He knew he had to
develop a dependency upon the strength of his redeemer if he was going to
succeed in maintaining a pure heart before Elohim. So, too, should we.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
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