Spiritual Virus Protection

God really got my attention today in my quiet time. I was spending time with Psalm 19:12-13: “But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.” What caught my eye was the note in verse 13 which indicates that “from the insolent” may be read “from proud thoughts.” So I went back and read it with the new phrasing. Check this out:

But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from proud thoughts; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

Amazing how two simple words change the meaning of the whole thing, huh? I think proud thoughts are the most hidden kind. We are least likely to think we are being obstinate at the times when we are being most obstinate. Being dominated by the need to always assert one’s rightness sure can get us into all kinds of messes. We can even turn our good living into something yucky when we start to get proud of ourselves, patting ourselves on the back for our own good behavior. I love the way David takes the time in this Psalm to ask God to do for him what he cannot do for himself, see where the hidden hang-ups are. It’s like initiating our own spiritual virus protection program. It’s a virus scan of the soul.

And the Holy Spirit is so much more thorough than Norton or McAffee or whatever thing you use for your computer system. While it can be painful to see what the light of the Lord uncovers, being made clean is as painless as quarantining and eliminating bugs from our computers. It is as simple as admitting to our Lord Jesus that the blemish His loving eyes have found in our character really does exist, and we need His help to get rid of it. And He does. We are forgiven, no questions asked, the moment we request His forgiveness to clean up our previously unseen sins and faults. We are made clean and beautiful once again. What is painful is when we never allow the loving eyes of Jesus to show us where the problems are. Then it is like those worms from the internet that can strike when we are most unprepared, wrecking our whole system.

I want to invite you to join me in making this prayer our own: Sweet Lord Jesus, show me where the hidden errors are; forgive me, cleanse me, and live in me more and more. Amen.

Hope you have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend. Y’all are such a blessing from the Lord.

Much love,

Sami