Man Kneeling in Prayer Beside a Psalm Verseby CBPepper
19:12Psalms 19:12
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
No one can fully recognize his own errors, for faults may be hidden even from himself, and he must ask God to cleanse him from those secret faults. It is the servant's answer to the praise of God's law as perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true and righteous, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, by which he is warned and in the keeping of which is great reward. That cleansing prayer leads to the plea to be held back from willful sins so they do not rule, that he may be upright and innocent of great transgression with his words and heart-ponderings acceptable to the Lord his strength and Redeemer. It calls for self-examination by the perfect law that brings sin home to the conscience and exposes motives, deceit of heart and hateful character of sin, and secret faults that strive for mastery must be wholly overcome and confessed before God, for though hidden from men they are seen by Him, recorded against the sinner, and unless repented of will stand in the judgment. It calls for a careful, prayerful walk without self-trust or reliance on the praise of others, yet even when condemned by the law the one who prays in brokenness is not to despair but to repent, confess, trust Christ as personal Saviour, and press forward not in human strength toward the high calling in Him.
Words and Psalm Setting
The question who can understand his errors is asked because no one can fully recognize his own errors, including faults hidden even from himself, and the prayer cleanse thou me from secret faults asks God to cleanse from what lies beyond personal awareness. It is the servant's response to the praise of God's law as perfect for converting the soul, sure for making the simple wise, right for rejoicing the heart, pure for enlightening the eyes, clean and enduring forever, true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey. By that law and word standing as warning beacons and guiding lights along life's way to keep from evil, the servant is warned and finds great reward in keeping them. The law so warns and guides that the question follows its praise and calls for self-examination by its standard and for purification from whatever that examination reveals.
The prayer for cleansing leads to the plea to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, so that the one praying may be upright and innocent from the great transgression. That further plea asks for inward cleansing so that sin will not rule and the person may be upright. With it goes the desire that the words of the mouth and meditation of the heart be acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer.
In this setting the prayer means looking to Jesus and beholding His glory to reflect His character and be changed from character to character. It means making God's written Word the lesson book, spiritual food, guide-book and rule of life-practice for character-building, conformity to Christ, partaking of the divine nature and wisdom unto salvation. Because the law warns the servant with great reward in keeping it, every person individually must take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth, turning from the traditions and maxims and sayings of men to the greatest Teacher.
Examination and Holy Living
The prayer is a call to self-examination by the standard of God's law, since no one can fully recognize his own errors and needs God to cleanse faults hidden even from himself. The perfect law brings sin home to the conscience and reveals its exceeding sinfulness, calling the person to die to self rather than rely on outward propriety or claimed belief. When motives are studied in its light and deficiencies are exposed, conscience must be kept awake and alive, not closed or hardened against seeing sin, not flattered that sin has nothing to do with self nor congratulated on virtues and piety. The depths of deceit in the heart and the hateful character and sinfulness of sin must be seen with deep disgust toward self, with asking God by His power to wash away hidden faults and to hold back from presumptuous sins.
The prayer humbles self-reliance and self-esteem, for those who consider themselves capable and efficient know little of their own poor selves. Especially men in responsible positions must see themselves as less than nothing unless worked by the Holy Spirit, instead of holding foolish self-confidence and trying to work the Spirit, and this prayer joined to the plea to be kept back from presumptuous sins is the safeguard against ambitious self-exaltation that proves eternal ruin. No one in this life can boast, because no one can grasp how great his wrongs are. Every person is accountable to God for giving every talent to the service of Christ through a whole lifetime, for influence, for all he might have become had he grown in knowledge and spirituality according to opportunity, and for souls that might have been saved had he worked as one who must give an account, which makes probation solemn. Students need to understand and offer this prayer intelligently in response to the instruction of God's law, and Psalm 19 is spoken intelligently when talents are consecrated through understanding Christ's sacrifice and suffering, being set apart for sacred service, cleansed from defilement and prepared for the Master's use.
The prayer is given to awaken God's people to their true spiritual condition and to humble heart and mind before God. Its promises are to be accepted and its warnings believed, keeping hearts awake to the peril of indifference to eternal welfare. It calls for searching the Scriptures as never before, letting the Word be educator and guide and asking what the Scriptures say. Every person individually must take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth, instead of disloyalty by transgressing the holy Sabbath and caviling over plain statements, misinterpreting and wrestling the Scriptures from their true meaning to harmonize disobedience as the scribes and Pharisees did, and must turn from the traditions and maxims and sayings of men to the greatest Teacher.
Secret faults and secret sins strive for the mastery and must be overcome, with no sin clung to in any form, for holiness must begin on earth in order to be holy in heaven. Safety is only in having the life hid with Christ in God and in laying solid timbers into character-building. Cherished secret faults bring God's displeasure and make the churches weak. Sins such as selfishness, uncharitableness, covetousness, envy, evil-surmising, falsehood, theft, robbery, sensuality, licentiousness and adultery stand registered against some professing solemn truth, and though carefully hidden from men they offend God whose pure eyes see and whose witness records all sins both open and secret. Unless sinners repent and confess before God and fall on the Rock and are broken, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well and bearing fruit to God's glory, those faults remain charged in the books of record and will be opened at the judgment as fearful histories never confessed and not blotted out, when thoughts as well as actions are revealed, heaping up wrath.
The prayer calls for a careful, prayerful walk, since people may fail to recognize their own faults and see the danger in their course. Praise from others does not prove sinlessness, and honest claims of being right do not prove it, for they may come from blindness to faults needing correction, while counsel and reproof may expose wrong paths. Prayed with brokenness by those who feel how near Christ is and whether they are ready to meet Him, in view of His coming at any moment, joined to being kept from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion unto uprightness and innocence from the great transgression with words and meditations acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer, it brings earnest seeking, praise and thanksgiving, humble confession, and the Spirit's moving from darkness to light. Even when condemned by the law the one praying is not to be discouraged but to repent, confess sin, have faith in Christ as personal Saviour, be willing to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, keep the fear of the Lord ever before the mind, and press forward not in human strength toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus with Jesus as counsellor.
No one can fully recognize his own errors, for faults may be hidden even from himself, and he must ask God to cleanse him from those secret faults. It is the servant's answer to the praise of God's law as perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true and righteous, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey, by which he is warned and in the keeping of which is great reward. That cleansing prayer leads to the plea to be held back from willful sins so they do not rule, that he may be upright and innocent of great transgression with his words and heart-ponderings acceptable to the Lord his strength and Redeemer. It calls for self-examination by the perfect law that brings sin home to the conscience and exposes motives, deceit of heart and hateful character of sin, and secret faults that strive for mastery must be wholly overcome and confessed before God, for though hidden from men they are seen by Him, recorded against the sinner, and unless repented of will stand in the judgment. It calls for a careful, prayerful walk without self-trust or reliance on the praise of others, yet even when condemned by the law the one who prays in brokenness is not to despair but to repent, confess, trust Christ as personal Saviour, and press forward not in human strength toward the high calling in Him.
Words and Psalm Setting
The question who can understand his errors is asked because no one can fully recognize his own errors, including faults hidden even from himself, and the prayer cleanse thou me from secret faults asks God to cleanse from what lies beyond personal awareness. It is the servant's response to the praise of God's law as perfect for converting the soul, sure for making the simple wise, right for rejoicing the heart, pure for enlightening the eyes, clean and enduring forever, true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold and sweeter than honey. By that law and word standing as warning beacons and guiding lights along life's way to keep from evil, the servant is warned and finds great reward in keeping them. The law so warns and guides that the question follows its praise and calls for self-examination by its standard and for purification from whatever that examination reveals.
The prayer for cleansing leads to the plea to be kept back from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion, so that the one praying may be upright and innocent from the great transgression. That further plea asks for inward cleansing so that sin will not rule and the person may be upright. With it goes the desire that the words of the mouth and meditation of the heart be acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer.
In this setting the prayer means looking to Jesus and beholding His glory to reflect His character and be changed from character to character. It means making God's written Word the lesson book, spiritual food, guide-book and rule of life-practice for character-building, conformity to Christ, partaking of the divine nature and wisdom unto salvation. Because the law warns the servant with great reward in keeping it, every person individually must take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth, turning from the traditions and maxims and sayings of men to the greatest Teacher.
Examination and Holy Living
The prayer is a call to self-examination by the standard of God's law, since no one can fully recognize his own errors and needs God to cleanse faults hidden even from himself. The perfect law brings sin home to the conscience and reveals its exceeding sinfulness, calling the person to die to self rather than rely on outward propriety or claimed belief. When motives are studied in its light and deficiencies are exposed, conscience must be kept awake and alive, not closed or hardened against seeing sin, not flattered that sin has nothing to do with self nor congratulated on virtues and piety. The depths of deceit in the heart and the hateful character and sinfulness of sin must be seen with deep disgust toward self, with asking God by His power to wash away hidden faults and to hold back from presumptuous sins.
The prayer humbles self-reliance and self-esteem, for those who consider themselves capable and efficient know little of their own poor selves. Especially men in responsible positions must see themselves as less than nothing unless worked by the Holy Spirit, instead of holding foolish self-confidence and trying to work the Spirit, and this prayer joined to the plea to be kept back from presumptuous sins is the safeguard against ambitious self-exaltation that proves eternal ruin. No one in this life can boast, because no one can grasp how great his wrongs are. Every person is accountable to God for giving every talent to the service of Christ through a whole lifetime, for influence, for all he might have become had he grown in knowledge and spirituality according to opportunity, and for souls that might have been saved had he worked as one who must give an account, which makes probation solemn. Students need to understand and offer this prayer intelligently in response to the instruction of God's law, and Psalm 19 is spoken intelligently when talents are consecrated through understanding Christ's sacrifice and suffering, being set apart for sacred service, cleansed from defilement and prepared for the Master's use.
The prayer is given to awaken God's people to their true spiritual condition and to humble heart and mind before God. Its promises are to be accepted and its warnings believed, keeping hearts awake to the peril of indifference to eternal welfare. It calls for searching the Scriptures as never before, letting the Word be educator and guide and asking what the Scriptures say. Every person individually must take heed to a Thus saith the Lord and know what is truth, instead of disloyalty by transgressing the holy Sabbath and caviling over plain statements, misinterpreting and wrestling the Scriptures from their true meaning to harmonize disobedience as the scribes and Pharisees did, and must turn from the traditions and maxims and sayings of men to the greatest Teacher.
Secret faults and secret sins strive for the mastery and must be overcome, with no sin clung to in any form, for holiness must begin on earth in order to be holy in heaven. Safety is only in having the life hid with Christ in God and in laying solid timbers into character-building. Cherished secret faults bring God's displeasure and make the churches weak. Sins such as selfishness, uncharitableness, covetousness, envy, evil-surmising, falsehood, theft, robbery, sensuality, licentiousness and adultery stand registered against some professing solemn truth, and though carefully hidden from men they offend God whose pure eyes see and whose witness records all sins both open and secret. Unless sinners repent and confess before God and fall on the Rock and are broken, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well and bearing fruit to God's glory, those faults remain charged in the books of record and will be opened at the judgment as fearful histories never confessed and not blotted out, when thoughts as well as actions are revealed, heaping up wrath.
The prayer calls for a careful, prayerful walk, since people may fail to recognize their own faults and see the danger in their course. Praise from others does not prove sinlessness, and honest claims of being right do not prove it, for they may come from blindness to faults needing correction, while counsel and reproof may expose wrong paths. Prayed with brokenness by those who feel how near Christ is and whether they are ready to meet Him, in view of His coming at any moment, joined to being kept from presumptuous sins so they do not have dominion unto uprightness and innocence from the great transgression with words and meditations acceptable to the Lord as strength and Redeemer, it brings earnest seeking, praise and thanksgiving, humble confession, and the Spirit's moving from darkness to light. Even when condemned by the law the one praying is not to be discouraged but to repent, confess sin, have faith in Christ as personal Saviour, be willing to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, keep the fear of the Lord ever before the mind, and press forward not in human strength toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus with Jesus as counsellor.