“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins: let them not have dominion over me:" Psalms 19:12-13
Error in Hebrew is to misuse, cheat, fraud. He is saying who in this world can discern his own misuse, maltreatment or sins? How can we know what is lurking underneath? Cleanse me from these hidden hurts and faults. Clean me, acquit me, make my secrets bare, let me know what I’ve done wrong and why. Make me blameless, guiltless and free. Keep me from presumptuous, prideful and deliberate sins. Don’t let them have dominion or rule over me. Don’t let these sins tread me down. Then I will be clear and innocent of transgressions, rebellions, revolts, and quarrels.
If we don’t have anything hidden, nothing can hinder or divert us away from God. In this verse, the word secret in Hebrew means to stop up. Secret things in our heart stop the blessings of God from getting in. His full love cannot flow through us. It is shut out from that part of our heart because something is in the way. We have to ask our Father, as David did, to remove whatever it may be. We can’t clean it ourselves, only our Lord is able.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26
Even when we have served the Lord for years, we are still walking through life and making new memories. We go through hurts and disappointments. We might even gain guilt or try to hide sin.
Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Psalms 44:21
We can’t hide a thing from our Maker. He is the All Knowing. We can’t even pretend to be strong, He knows our weaknesses. God knows our vulnerabilities, He sees the tears of our heart. He wants us to be truthful with Him and tell Him what bothers us, tell Him what we are sorry for, tell Him every little detail in our lives. Our Father wants communication with us. We might as well just spill the beans, He knows all the details of our life any way.
Unloading on God is a way of showing that we love and trust in Him completely.
If we try to keep these wrongs or insecurities or fears hidden, we are pushing them into secret chambers of our heart. These things could become the hidden motivation for our actions. Unfortunately, if we don’t give them to God, they could have dominion over us and control our actions and how we live..
God says to guard our heart. Keep it from evil. What is in our heart is the source of our life. If we hold good, then we are good. If we let in evil, we are evil.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23
The way we protect our heart is by staying in God’s Word. We pray His Word and we stay away from things that He doesn’t approve of. We still might be hurt by others, but God can help us through anything. We should seek Him in all situations. Our heart can be clean when God is first in our lives.
Please read the other studies with the series A New Heart, Keep it Clean, Secret Chambers, and It Hurts! Click on the labels below.
