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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So,
did you do it this past week? Did you
face each temptation with the declaration, “I have a choice.” It was illuminating, wasn’t it? You came face to face with the awareness of
how recklessly you have been living your life; how callously you discard your allegiance
to the Master for the sake of temporary pleasure; and how little it has
mattered in the past for you to do what you know is against the will of IAUE. No more, however, can you choose to follow
temptation’s lead in ignorance of the incredible consequences of your choice to
do evil.
For
those of us who genuinely long to be pleasing to the Master, this exercise was
a revelation of how easy it is to avoid giving in to temptation; and how we can
be grateful through the surfacing of temptation to be shown conditions of
wickedness in our heart, dross that needs to be purified.
Temptation,
however, is not always so cut and dried…so apparent to us that we can tell
ourselves we have a choice to make.
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 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 that we did 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?" This question was not an
attempt at defending himself for wrong behavior originating from issues programmed
from childhood, or reactions that are at first believed to be proper responses
to circumstances . No, it was a desperate appeal for help. It was an admission that there are things we
do that come from places inside of us we are not even aware exist. It was one of wanting 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"...it does not really include the idea of
"faults." David was asking Elohim to cleanse him of his
secrets...his hidden life. David wanted to walk in the light as He is in
the light (1 John 1). To walk in darkness, to keep anything in our life hidden
in the dark, kept a secret, causes us to make many mistakes in our walk.
It is the principle avenue through which the devil retains influence and sway
in our lives. Springing forth from those secrets are
behaviors that have become a part of the network designed to keep them secret;
so they quite naturally are expressed without our even making the choice to do
them. We become alert to what we have
done after we have done it.
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, the spontaneous sins, that
proceed from our secrets, the parts of our life that we keep in the dark, are
"presumptuous sins." The Hebrew word used her for,
"presumptuous" is found 13 times in the Scriptures; and in
all of the other 12 passages 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. This
makes sense because anything we keep in the dark is kept there because we
believe that we are important enough to have it in our life despite IAUE’s
disapproval; thus all behavior emanating from those things we keep for ourselves
are dripping with the pride that comes from the love of self.
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 us as disciples of
Yahushua to learn, and to learn quickly, that any part of our 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. Satan is the ruler of the darkness of this world. The
Psalmist recognizes this terrible truth and prays that IAUE would prevent these
prideful sins from having dominion over his heart. Yahushua said that no
man could serve two masters. When we keep any part of our life secret
from man and kept out of the light of IAUE, we create a two-master lifestyle,
and fail in our service to Elohim only. Satan enjoys any service that
he can receive from us. IAUE does not.
The Psalmist recognizes, however, 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 may have done. Like Yahushua said of
himself, 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 public life was beset with sins of
pride because he had harbored in his heart, secret sins. The divine
surgeon, however, had been entreated to purge the defilement. When David
brought that which was once dark into the light, IAUE cleansed him of his
secrets. Like any good physician, IAUE does not let his patient exit
without supplying him with the appropriate medicine to insure that good health
is maintained. [We must understand that prideful behavior is
habitual. It is like the cigarette smoker who has "quit," yet
still finds it very difficult at those times in his day when he was accustomed
to automatically reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. He has to
learn to do something else with his hands or his mouth to reclaim that part of
his life from the habit that had ruled him. ]
King David reveals that the prescription for
recovery of our heart from prideful sins, AFTER we have allowed the Light of
IAUE to expose our secret sins, is to: "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. He took
up a conscious evaluation of his words and his thoughts, not to permit secret
sins back into his life. This does not happen automatically. It requires prayer and the personal commitment
of one to purify and to guard his heart, knowing that out of it flow the issues
of life.
With his words, David could lie or tell
half-truths, or speak with guile to put people off the track of what he was
doing or contemplating (secret sin). In his heart, David could
meditate on the sins he wanted to commit until those meditations took on plans
and strategies for enabling the sin. These are the two functions of our
life that get us into the most trouble. We should take note of wise David
if we intend to prepare a Kingdom Heart for our Master, Yahushua the Messiah.
David did not depend on his own strength
to do this. He depended upon "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. The question is, how desperately do we want
this? The answer to that question will
reveal whether or not we are a disciple…or just a believer.
James
2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me
thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
