Achilleion Palace, Corfu, Greece, 2012- former home of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (taken my Martha Wiggins)
“But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12-14)
Sometimes we are so blinded by our goals, our desires, our needs that we lose the capability of rational discernment. Our focus is on the end result and not how we get there. We may compromise our values and we may unintentionally or intentionally hurt others who may be in our way. Our sins take over and rule our hearts. We no longer see our sins for what they truly are… a slow death.
In the Psalm above, David recognizes that he has sins that are hidden even from himself and he asks the Lord to forgive him for them. When our sins rule over us, even though they may be hidden from us or not completely intentional, we are not blameless. We can’t claim ignorance as our excuse and expect the freedom to continue on toward our goal, to continue on in sin. God may be quicker to forgive such offenses as they are lesser ones than those that are willful or deliberate, but they still offend Him and are still called sin.
It is good to take account of all in our life from time to time and look closely to see where we may have slackened our guard against sin. Then we should pray as David above and ask God to forgive our hidden sins and keep us from repeating them, asking Him to make both our words and our thoughts pleasing in His sight.
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