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"Cleanse Thou Me from Secret Faults..."



I fail God everyday. There are days I fail Him by sinning willfully and there are days I sin and don't even realize it. We've all been there, I'm sure. When we sin willfully, we understand it and we can choose to correct the behavior at our own inclination. But how can we change the pattern of sin of which we are unaware?

A few days ago in my morning devotions, I came across Psalms 19:12. It says, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." It struck me, and humbled me as I read, re-read, and pored over it in meditation. Here King David enlightens the believer to recognize that there are sinful actions, thoughts and behavior of which we are completely oblivious. In fact, we are repeat offenders because these sins have not been revealed to us. It got me to thinking, "what are my secret faults?" I'm sure those who observe me closely can tell me, and I could very easily return the favor because it's always easier to point out the faults of others. It's just very difficult to recognize our own.

Our spiritual walk with the LORD is strengthened when we strive for righteousness, that is, removing sinfulness from our lives. Secret faults included. The key is discovering what they are. Now, how do we discover them on our own?

First, David requests that God protect him from "presumptuous sins" (verse 13). According to Strong's Concordance, presumptuous means arrogant or proud. The sins we commit willfully show this arrogance. It has the idea of utilizing our strength over God's. When we keep those sins in check, our sense of humility will be strengthened. In our humility, we might just be more open to recognize our "secret faults."

Then, of course, comes a very familiar verse: Psalms 19:14 - "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. The word acceptable refers to sacrifice. We must be willing to give up our own ambitions to God. Our speech and inner thoughts should be on Him, for Him and to Him. This can be done through reading and meditating on His Word and through prayer. When we succeed in this, God's strength overpowers ours, humility abounds and our secret faults are revealed.

Read Psalms 19:12 yourself. Meditate on it. Commit it to memory. Doing so will make you conscious of the existence of your secret sins. The first step in realizing what they are, is realizing that they're there. "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."

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