God’s Word Will Cleanse us

Psalms 19:12–14
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This psalm could be outlined in the following way:

1. The world of God (vv. 1-6)
2. The Word of God (vv. 7-10)
3. The way of God (vv. 11-14)

Understanding the holy law led David to pray for complete cleansing so he could live a blameless and acceptable life before God (vv. 12-14). He prayed that he would be forgiven for hidden faults and preserved from sinning willfully. David knew that pride can be the most deceiving of all sin so he prays for a cleansing from it (v. 13). Many Christians are plagued by guilt. They worry that they may have committed a sin unknowingly, done something good with selfish intentions, failed to put their whole heart into a task or neglected what they should have done. Guilt can play an important role in bringing us to Christ, but it should not cripple us or make us fearful. If a person reads and meditates upon the Word of God it will cleanse him. It moves him from a consciousness of sin to a sensitivity for holiness.

Men learn of God in a general way from the world of God. We learn more specifically in a personal way from the Word of God. The last four verses of this psalm tell us what the Bible does which is  the way of God. Guilt can play an important role in bringing us to Christ and keeping us behaving properly. However, it should not cripple us or make us fearful because God fully and completely forgives us, even for those sins we do unknowingly.

Application

It is one thing for me to know what the Word of God says and it is another thing for me to apply its teaching in a personal way in my life. I am not only to be a hearer but a doer of His Word.