Psalm 19 Part 5
This psalm has been so inspiring and also challenging as we have considered the revelation of the Lord through His creation and His word. Verse 11 says: “Moreover by them, your servant is warned, and in keeping them is great reward”. Sometimes we forget how by living by God’s word we have been saved from so much it is good to remember the blessings of God. I believe because we have lived the right way we have been protected from so much. I do not know if in heaven these events will be revealed to us and if they are we will have even a greater reason to praise our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Verse 12 says: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me my secret faults”. This has been my experience as I have looked back over my life many things have been done regularly which have taken me away from living close to my Lord. It is not something that I planned to do but at times became complacent and have allowed the things of this world to be my priority. I am so glad that the Lord cleanses me from all my faults when I acknowledge them and repent. Verse 13 says: “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgressions”. Anthr name for presumptuous sins is living by my strength, logic, and understanding and this is one of the battles we face continually. I am amazed how at times I allow myself to be tricked to believe in my self-importance and that always takes me away from a close relationship with my Lord. The Bible calls this pride, notice the middle letter of pride is ‘I’ and God is very clear that “He resists the proud”(1 Peter 5:5). This is something that we have to be very careful about because the spirit of this world is all about the power of self and we are reminded not to conform to this world’s standards (Romans 12:2 ). God’s solution is found in Verse 14 which says: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer “. Sometimes we forget the significance of what we say and upon reflection, it is good to be reminded what we say is important and what the Bible says what we say, Proverbs 10:21 says: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”. Proverbs 10:11 says: “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life” and Proverbs 15:4 says: “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life”. It is also important to recognise the source of what we say, Luke 6:45 says: “For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”. This brings us to the next part of the verse which says: “Let the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight”, the word meditate means to chew over or more simply ‘what we think about ’. Because this seems to be hidden from other people we can be tempted not to place great value on what we think. However, what we think about is manifested by what we say. The psalmist reminds us to keep our thoughts under control and to only think about those things that glorify God. The Lord is revealed to other people when we think of Godly ways.