Stern discipline awaits those who leave the path; he who hates correction will
die. Death and destruction lay open to the Lord—how much more the hearts of
men! ~Proverbs 15:10-11
Who can discern His errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgressions. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. ~Psalm 19:12-14
He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what makes us tick and He uses that knowledge to bless us. “Stern discipline awaits those who leave the path; he who hates correction will die.” “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 112:11) Think of it, if we were not disciplined, we would die!
“Death and destruction lay open to the Lord—how much more the hearts of men!” This brings us to David’s prayer. “Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.” This is probably one of the areas of our lives, as Christians, in which God finds it necessary to implement His discipline most strongly. Even as Christians, we find ourselves holding on to petty little unwholesome thoughts. We justify petty negative behaviors, thinking that they don’t really matter much because they are, “petty!” When we think about how far we’ve come, or when we compare ourselves to those who are not yet of the faith, we find it hard to believe that God would even notice such minor infractions.
David, however, the man whom God referred to as, the man after My own heart, did understand the significance of “petty” flaws and thus he prayed against them. “Forgive my hidden faults.” Are they hidden from others, or us? Perhaps both. There is an interesting passage in Leviticus that may provide some examples of “hidden faults,” that may seem “petty,” by our standards. “If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible. Or, if a person touches something ceremonially unclean…even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty. Or, if he touches human uncleanness…even though he is unaware of it, when he learns of it he will be guilty. Or, if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil—in any matter one might carelessly swear about—even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.” (Lev. 5:1-4)
I wouldn’t consider those sins big, or earth shaking, but God cares enough to mention them. David takes them seriously enough to want to not be found guilty of them, or any other behavior that might be comparable to them. He wants to be found faultless before God, so he gave God permission to reveal these hidden tendencies and to use His discipline to teach him, David, how to weed them out of his life.
The line that concerns me more, however is: “Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.” That requires me to be willing to be honest with myself before God. “Willful sins,” sins are the ones that we know are wrong but do them anyway. We may excuse them with the phrase, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” How many of those do I own? How many of those do I just not want to go through the pain of letting go? How many of those do I just, kind of like because they make me, ME!
It takes strong discipline to motivate me to let go of that kind of sin, but if I don’t, the choice becomes: live without my willful sin, or die with it. “Stern discipline awaits those who leave the path; he who hates correction will die.” As one of God’s children, I must be willing to accept the discipline that God has for me to help me weed out even the petty things that detract from His best for me. “Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgressions.”
The awesome thing is, because He knows me and He knows how I do best, His discipline is an individual plan, designed only for me, to meet my needs, to work with my strengths, and to address my weaknesses. My hidden faults, my willful sins are not your struggle, but be assured, we all have our own.
Here’s a poem about it called, “God Wants to Drill a Man.” (Author unknown, but it’s been around since at least 1967)
When God wants to drill a man,
and thrill a man and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
to play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
to create so great and bold a man
That all the world should be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways:
How He ruthlessly perfects whom
He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
into shapes and forms of clay
Which only God can understand,
While man’s tortured heart is crying
and he lifts beseeching hands.
Yet God bends but never breaks
when man’s good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him
to try His splendor out,
God knows what He’s about.
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. And Father, though I do not like the pain, I do appreciate what You’re doing to make me better. In Jesus’ name, amen,
Song: Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Who can discern His errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgressions. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. ~Psalm 19:12-14
He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what makes us tick and He uses that knowledge to bless us. “Stern discipline awaits those who leave the path; he who hates correction will die.” “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 112:11) Think of it, if we were not disciplined, we would die!
“Death and destruction lay open to the Lord—how much more the hearts of men!” This brings us to David’s prayer. “Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.” This is probably one of the areas of our lives, as Christians, in which God finds it necessary to implement His discipline most strongly. Even as Christians, we find ourselves holding on to petty little unwholesome thoughts. We justify petty negative behaviors, thinking that they don’t really matter much because they are, “petty!” When we think about how far we’ve come, or when we compare ourselves to those who are not yet of the faith, we find it hard to believe that God would even notice such minor infractions.
David, however, the man whom God referred to as, the man after My own heart, did understand the significance of “petty” flaws and thus he prayed against them. “Forgive my hidden faults.” Are they hidden from others, or us? Perhaps both. There is an interesting passage in Leviticus that may provide some examples of “hidden faults,” that may seem “petty,” by our standards. “If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible. Or, if a person touches something ceremonially unclean…even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty. Or, if he touches human uncleanness…even though he is unaware of it, when he learns of it he will be guilty. Or, if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil—in any matter one might carelessly swear about—even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.” (Lev. 5:1-4)
I wouldn’t consider those sins big, or earth shaking, but God cares enough to mention them. David takes them seriously enough to want to not be found guilty of them, or any other behavior that might be comparable to them. He wants to be found faultless before God, so he gave God permission to reveal these hidden tendencies and to use His discipline to teach him, David, how to weed them out of his life.
The line that concerns me more, however is: “Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me.” That requires me to be willing to be honest with myself before God. “Willful sins,” sins are the ones that we know are wrong but do them anyway. We may excuse them with the phrase, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” How many of those do I own? How many of those do I just not want to go through the pain of letting go? How many of those do I just, kind of like because they make me, ME!
It takes strong discipline to motivate me to let go of that kind of sin, but if I don’t, the choice becomes: live without my willful sin, or die with it. “Stern discipline awaits those who leave the path; he who hates correction will die.” As one of God’s children, I must be willing to accept the discipline that God has for me to help me weed out even the petty things that detract from His best for me. “Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgressions.”
The awesome thing is, because He knows me and He knows how I do best, His discipline is an individual plan, designed only for me, to meet my needs, to work with my strengths, and to address my weaknesses. My hidden faults, my willful sins are not your struggle, but be assured, we all have our own.
Here’s a poem about it called, “God Wants to Drill a Man.” (Author unknown, but it’s been around since at least 1967)
When God wants to drill a man,
and thrill a man and skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
to play the noblest part,
When He yearns with all His heart
to create so great and bold a man
That all the world should be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways:
How He ruthlessly perfects whom
He royally elects;
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
into shapes and forms of clay
Which only God can understand,
While man’s tortured heart is crying
and he lifts beseeching hands.
Yet God bends but never breaks
when man’s good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with mighty power infuses him,
With every act induces him
to try His splendor out,
God knows what He’s about.
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. And Father, though I do not like the pain, I do appreciate what You’re doing to make me better. In Jesus’ name, amen,
Song: Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Comments
Post a Comment