Purity Before the King

Psalm 19:12-14 KJV
12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 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.

Let me start off that we do not have the ability to make ourselves pure before God. Only Jesus Christ can do that. But that should not diminish our desire to be pure before God.

Verse 12 clearly shows that on our own we cannot discern the impurities in our lives. We just can't figure out how much sin we may have. A prayer where we ask God to forgive us where we might have sinned doesn't quite help us in repenting - how do we turn away from something we are unaware of. Psalm 139:23-24 addresses this. Ask God to search your heart and thoughts to find what iniquity might be hiding there. But rely on Him.

Verse 13 is the cry for help in areas that we are aware that we are not strong in. If only we could cry out like this in all areas of our life. But I think you know what areas I mean: the place you go when you are frightened, tired, angry or hurt instead of going to the Father. The activities, thoughts and actions that you know sin against the Father. The things you justify to yourself and others, but know in your heart are not pleasing to God. Be like the psalmist and just give them over to God and seek Him for protection (Ps 46:1).

And finally in Verse 14 just ask God to help guard your heart and your mouth. The desire here is to let all your thoughts and words be pleasing to the Lord.

Yes, it is a tall order for us, but we know that with God all things are possible. And if we rely on Him and His strength, a pure and righteous life is possible.

The Lord Deals with Your Heart

Psalm 18:25-26 KJV
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

This passage is pretty straight forward. I believe that it speaks of your attitude and how God responds to your attitude. It shows that if your goal is to be merciful, upright, and pure that the Lord treats you in kind. Not to get too confusing, but I use the word "goal" because I believe that the only way to have those aspects in your life is to have a total reliance on Christ to infuse those qualities in your life.

The last line is a little difficult without looking at the Hebrew or another translation. Both instances of "froward" do not come from the same Hebrew word. The first instance refers to being crooked or deceitful. The second instance refers to struggle, to wrestle or to be unsavoury. With this being the case it makes perfect sense: if you are trying to be deceitful, the Lord is not what is pleasing to you - you will be butting heads with Him.

Now the tough part. Be honest with yourself. Which end are you on? Don't automatically dismiss the "froward" reference because you know the Lord. I say that because we tend to do that when we read His word.

Has there been times when it feels that you've been wrestling with God? Or times that you didn't want anything to do with Him? I believe this scripture reference is a "check yourself" or "red flag" more than a condemnation. If you're struggling with God, check to see what you may be hiding from Him. Then take the time to strive for mercy, righteousness and purity: put on Christ (Rom 13:14).