Mission Venture Ministries

“Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” (Psalm 19:12-13) 

David, the author of this psalm voices his frustration at his inability to apply his life totally in accordance with God’s revealed plan. He recognizes and asks for God’s forgiveness for his failure and asks for strength to avoid habitual sin patterns and willful rejection of God’s commandments. 

“Hidden faults” are sins committed in ignorance or without knowledge. It is therefore important to be as specific as we possibly can when we seek God’s forgiveness; since sin creates a barrier between us and God. 

When Jesus began His ministry, His first words were, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). And what is the good news? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

We know that the consequence of sin is death, as Scripture teaches us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

Leviticus 5:17-19 speaks of individuals committing unintentional hidden sins of “ignorance”. Unintentional hidden sins are spoken of by David in Psalm 19:12: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.” Our hidden sins may be obvious to people who know us, but they are hidden from our awareness, so if we have someone that loves us and we can trust, we should ask them if they see any hidden sins in us so that we can make it right with God and those who we probably are offending. 

The consequence of habitually suppressing the truth results in God giving the sinner over to “the sinful desires of their hearts” , “shameful lusts” and “a depraved mind” (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). This means that God may allow the sinner to serve as his own god and to reap the destruction of his body and soul. It is a fearful thing to be “given over” to our own destructive ways as Hebrews 10:31 tells us: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” 

God has made it clear that “the soul who sins will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Those who habitually live their lives outside of Christ, yet have been convicted by the gospel of Christ, should follow the example of the first converts of the church: “They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” The answer was simple yet profound: “Repent!” (Acts 2:37-38). 

David committed a presumptuous sin when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and she became pregnant. Then he had her husband killed to cover up his sin (2 Samuel 11). 

In Numbers 15, the law outlined the actions to be taken for sins knowingly committed. “But the person who does anything presumptuously . . . brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him” (Numbers 15:30–31). 

Presumptuous sins are deliberate. They are committed with the full knowledge that they are sins and in full awareness of what God has said we are not to do. Presumptuous sins are premeditated, and the intent to sin is intensely deliberated before the act. Presumptuous sins can only be committed when the conscience is suppressed and a person willfully does it and nothing is going to stop them, they just go and do it. 

In other words, presumptuous sin is committed in direct contradiction to what a person knows is true. That is why David prays, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!” (Psalm 19:13). 

Unless we ask God to restrain us our heart it might fill with a proud and insolent contempt against God. Therefore, like David we should humbly ask God for protection from both kinds of sins. May our Lord grant us wisdom to recognize defiance within us and give us strength to resist our human tendency to sin. 

Consequently if we are prone to sin we should learn to pray as David did in Psalm 139:23- 24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

And Hebrews 5:12-14 shows us that the more we know God’s written Word, the easier we will be able to distinguish good and evil in our lives. Therefore, “as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:14-16). 

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