A Mature Prayer

“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.” (Ps 19:13 AV)

This is quite a request.  A presumptuous sin or sins are those things we do in arrogant rebellion.  They are things we know are wrong.  They are things that we have been convicted of.  They are things that the Holy Spirit is heavily trying to influence us away from doing.  Yet, we do them anyway.  These are the things we feel most guilty about.  Our sweet Psalmist, David, is asking the LORD to forcibly intervene so this does not happen.  He wants the LORD to interrupt his planned rebellion.  David seeks God’s hand of protection.  He wants God to pull him back.  He wants God to make his life uncomfortable so rebellion would hurt.  This is a very mature request.

To make this prayer answerable, the first thing one must do is be honest with oneself.  We have to realize that even with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, rebellion is still possible.  We are no different from our children.  We can give them the best upbringing and instruction, yet in the end, they do something deliberately wrong just to express their individuality and independence.  Second, we must see this reality as one to which we are hopeless and powerless to fight on our own.  The flesh is something else.  It will take us down a road we know is wrong and make us suffer as a consequence.  Trying to fight rebellion in our own strength is doomed to fail.  Third, we have to be willing to accept whatever actions God wants to take to help us avoid these rebellious choices.  This is what separated David from all the rest.  He wanted, and accepted, all that God could do to keep him from making choices he would later regret.

There are also some motives listed above.  Note how David refers to himself.  He refers to himself as a servant.  This is the polar opposite of rebellion.  Perhaps we have a hard time with rebellion because we do not see ourselves as a complete slave to the will of our Creator God.  If we are not first a servant and a willing one at that, we will never accept what God must do to keep us from the choices we are capable of making.  Second, there is a goal here.  David does not seek this simply because he knows it is wrong.  He seeks it because being under condemnation of the great transgression is something he cannot live with.  He would rather be submissive and right than free and frolicking.  David aspired to be free from the consequences of the great transgression so that he might continue to serve God without the baggage that rebellion heaps on the life and conscience of those who fall.