Psalm
19:13-14 "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 LORD, my
strength, and my redeemer."
"Keep back thy servant... from... sins." Sometimes it seems
that my prayers are directed toward my wanting the Lord to just be like our
Mommas when we were little. If we were close to something that would hurt us,
they would put their arms in front of us to prevent us from going any
farther. For many of us, we lived in a time before car seats. We would
even sometimes stand up in the front seat to see where we were going and what
we were passing by. This is not advisable, but there were not as many
cars on the road back then and quite honestly most people drove sensibly on the
highway. But if the brakes had to be hit, the first thing we felt was Momma's
arm to hold us back from falling.
"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have
dominion over me." To me, that seems to be saying, "Lord,
please give me wisdom that I will not overstep my boundary. Help me to know
when to speak and what to say. Help me to know what to do and when to do it.
Guide me Lord, even in my thoughts that I will not be led in a direction that
is contrary to your will for me." So now, I ask... How can I know
these things? When you go back and read Psalm 19:7-11, you will see God is
directing us to His Holy Word. He speaks to us of the goodness of reading,
meditating, and following the Word of God in our lives. Not only does He direct
us toward His Word; but also, He speaks to us of having a relationship with
HIM. It is one thing to have a relationship with His Word. By that, I
mean it is possible to memorize and be able to quote many parts of the Bible without
really stopping to think about the source of those words. Yes, it is
important to know the Word of God, but we must always associate that Word with
the Author. Knowing the Word of God should lead us to a very personal
daily walking, working relationship with the Lord, Himself.
We will see in Psalm 119 that the Word in our hearts helps to prevent us from many sins against the Lord. It is as we are familiar with the Word of God that we can then successfully pray, "Keep me from presumptuous sins. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." Heavenly Father, please direct me according to your Word. Guide me in and through your Word as I go from day to day.