Psa 19:12-14
Our text begins with the rhetorical question – “who can discern his errors”? Charles Spurgeon would re-punctuate the question into an exclamation since the person who has an intimate knowledge of God’s Word wonders as to what he does not know rather than congratulate himself over what he does know. At the end of the day, who can remember all the ways in which he displeased God or broke his laws? David asked this question as the follow-up to a description of how profitable knowledge of God’s law is and what reward there is in keeping it.
Looking at his life in the mirror of Scripture brought David to the conclusion that his errors were innumerable and, if he were depending on obedience to the law to gain favor with God, he was doomed. Only if God had ordained some other way for his children to find acceptance in his sight, something other than perfect obedience, would anyone including David have favor with God. As bleak as the picture was, David did not give up hope or think that since he was unable to avoid sin completely, he was off the hook of obedience; he remained determined to obey God and his laws to the best of his ability.
In Psalm 119:102 David declared his absolute dependence on God to remain faithfully obedient: “I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.” Here in our text he shows awareness of his sinfulness and the various forms which it can take coupled with his need for God’s grace and mercy. Remember, sin is deceitful, working to deceive us into thinking it is less awful than it really is, trying to convince us that things God calls sin are really something else.
Lord, give me the grace to keep from committing:
A. hidden faults v. 12
Here the Psalmist is speaking of sins of ignorance, sins of either omission or commission but of which he is unaware. These are sins which God sees in us but which we honestly fail to see in ourselves. That this is the type of sin is clear from the obvious piety communicated in the preceding part of the Psalm and the fact that his immediate response to recognizing it as sin is to seek forgiveness. In fact the rhetorical question with which he opens the verse puts us in mind of Paul’s agonizing struggle with indwelling sin described in Romans 7:15ff.
“The English translation of “by straying” (unintentionally, through error) varies greatly, but almost all suggest that this term refers to sins that were committed by mistake or done not knowing that the particular act was sinful.” NET
God gave Moses clear instruction on how to deal with unintentional sins: sins of comission in Leviticus 4 and sins of omission in Numbers 15:22-29. Separate instructions for dealing with other classes of sin are given elsewhere.
Nothing about this sinful act points to any element of defiance or intentional deception; instead it appears that the individual’s intention was to do what was right but he “missed the mark”. David made no attempt to redefine sin or his action nor did he minimize his offense. He acknowledged it as sin, albeit unintentional. He asked that God would declare him innocent, acquit him, of his sin.
Because David understood that sin has consequences (and rightly so), he knew that God could not simply declare him innocent; a holy and righteous God would never treat it as if it never happened. God must punish sin and the only way he could avert the consequences from David would be to divert them to someone else. David articulated this in Psalm 32:2 where he described “the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity” as blessed. David would experience the blessing of forgiveness only when his sin was credited to someone else’s account and he prayed that God would do just that.
Lord, give me the grace to keep from committing:
B. presumptuous sins v. 13a
In Psalm 119:101 David declared that he had restrained his feet from every evil way; here he indicated his dependence on the Lord’s grace to restrain him from sins of self-confidence. Implied is a recognition that he is dependent on grace to remain dependent; if God were to withdraw his grace and his restraining hand, David would quickly become confident in himself and his own abilities. At that point he would not only be foolishly depending on the wrong source of strength, he would be vulnerable to all sorts of deception and sinful actions.
It’s not hard to believe that perhaps David wrote this Psalm after his “situation” with Bathsheba and had it in mind as he penned these immortal words. “Oh, I can stay home from battle; that won’t be a problem. I can look at my neighbor’s wife without lusting, I’m just enjoying the beauty of God’s creation and I can keep it at that. I’m the king and it’s my prerogative to marry when I choose and whom I choose; besides, if God hadn’t wanted me to marry her, He wouldn’t have put her in the house next door.” Once David committed that first sin, many more came right on its heels and before he could change course, he was overwhelmed with a huge load of sin, guilt and depression. When David spoke of self-confident sins gaining the advantage over him, he knew what he was talking about; he also knew that in his own strength he could neither avoid presumptuous sin or escape its dominion.
The unrighteous experience the dominion of presumptuous sins on a daily basis; in fact, that dominion is what prevents the ungodly from choosing to follow God and his ways by their own abilities. But it is not only the unrighteous who have to deal with the dominion of sin; the righteous, also, are at risk of such dominion, at least during those periods when they fail to depend on God’s grace.
“Now, if David, who had made so much progress in the fear of God, was not beyond the danger of transgressing, how shall the carnal and unrenewed man, in whom innumerable lusts exercise dominion, be able to restrain and govern himself by his own free will? Let us learn, then, even although the unruliness of our wayward flesh has been already subdued by the denial of ourselves, to walk in fear and trembling; for unless God restrain us, our hearts will violently boil with a proud and insolent contempt of God.” John Calvin
Lord, give me the grace to keep from committing:
C. great transgression v. 13b
David recognized not only the cumulative nature of sin where one sin leads almost inevitably to another, but also the nature of sin to become increasingly evil. In his terminology for sin, David progressed from sins of ignorance to sins of self-confidence to sins of outright rebellion. This is the same downward spiral which the righteous man studiously avoids in Psalm 1:1 and which Lot, Abraham’s nephew failed to avoid.
David understood from both precept and experience the greatness of the evil of sin; he also understood the great evil of great sin and how God viewed it in the old dispensation. Under Mosaic law there was no sacrifice or atonement for presumptuous nor defiant sin: see Numbers 15:30-31. David shuddered at even the thought of being guilty of that heinous a sin and, realizing that lesser sins were stepping stones toward it, acknowledged the necessity of God’s preventing grace.
Once again David made the connection between God’s gracious dealings with him and the logical outcome of that: in order for David to be blameless and innocent of grievous sin he must be restrained by God from the sins he would naturally commit. David knew that the tendency still existed within him to relapse back into his former sinful ways and that only God’s “hand on the reins” would keep him on the path of godliness.
Lord, give grace to sanctify my:
D. words v. 14
In his final prayer David excelled the Pharisees by getting to the heart of law-keeping. Up to this point his focus had been primarily on external conformity to God’s law with an oblique reference to mindset in the concept of presumptuous sin. Next he addressed verbal expression and the need for God to oversee his very speech, guarding and guiding it in such a way as to be pleasing and acceptablt to God. In order for his words to be acceptable to God they must be good and holy, building up his hearers and honoring God. Implied is the understanding that words are an indication of thoughts and emotions; consequently implied is the desire for God to sanctify them as well.
E. thoughts v. 14
David finally got to the root, the ultimate source of sinfulness – the heart of man. Sin begins in the heart, the desires, moves to the mind, the thoughts, which direct actions. James 1:15 David recognized that if God’s sanctifying grace did not extend to his heart, he would be fighting a losing battle against sin by attempting to put an external restraint in place. In fact, in Psalm 51:16-17 David declared his understanding that “a broken and contrite heart” was necessary for him to find favor with God.
Augustine, Confessions, X.29
My entire hope is exclusively in your very great mercy. Grant what you command, and command what you will. tr. Henry Chadwick
There can be no hope for me except in your great mercy. Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will. tr. R. S. Pine-Coffin
Neither David nor Augustine asked God to change the standard of what he requires; rather they pleaded with God to give them the grace to meet his expectations, and when they failed to measure up, to be merciful. David’s closing statement is one of dependence and implicit trust in God to protect and deliver him from sin and death. This side of the Cross we are just as dependent on God’s grace for victory over sin and acceptance in his sight as David was. May our desire to please God and our dependence on him be every bit as fervent and sincere as was David’s.
