Kept from My Iniquity

"I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity."

Psalm 18:23

In Psalm 18, David affirmed the rewards God gives those who are righteous before Him, and Christians are accounted as righteous by faith in Jesus Christ.  No Christian is a perfect person.  By virtue of being a Christian, it is an public acknowledgment of being a sinner and needing a Saviour.  David said he was blameless before God, and he kept himself from his iniquity.  This dynamic is very insightful for God's people to understand--how we are drawn away by our own lust, and when we are enticed to satisfy lust it conceives and brings forth sin which results in death (James 1:13-15).

Jesus has cleansed Christians by providing atonement by shedding His own blood, and though believers are completely forgiven of sin we continue to live in physical bodies that have been corrupted by sin.  We have been born again and given new hearts, yet living in a body of flesh in a fallen world with ever-scheming Satan prowling around means temptation persists.  Having our sins forgiven does not mean our minds are wiped from memories or that our bodies suddenly lose all fleshly appetites.  As drips of water over time can wear away stone, so sinful suggestions and temptations can wear down the believer's resolve:  our minds remember what we would rather forget, and our flesh hungers for selfish satisfaction of its senses.  Joseph was pestered by Potiphar's wife, and youthful lusts can seductively beckon the most august saint.

David said he kept himself from his sin, sin that was harboured in his heart and members, sin that lies dormant and keen to awaken like weeds that spring up when conditions are hospitable.  To avoid the stirring of our desire coupled with opportunistic action, we might prefer to live in a perpetual spiritual winter where snow blankets the ground and weeds cannot possibly grow.  Yet the frozen earth of winter means there can be no cultivation of crops and no fruitfulness.  God has wisely employed a cycle of seasons with a time for every purpose under heaven.  A season of cultivation, growth and bountiful harvest does allow for unwelcome weeds that shoot up and propagate unless they are quickly uprooted.  Similar to what we observe in nature, prime times of spiritual growth can also include opportunity for sin to spout and spread.

The child of God must remain vigilant to keep God's ways, remember His judgments, keep ourselves from iniquity, and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, convicts us of sin, and empowers us to be faithful witness of Jesus.  Having been forgiven, cleansed of guilt and born again, we are to guard our hearts and labour to remain pure from our defilements that corrupt us from within.  David did not only keep himself from iniquity, but his iniquity.  It was not "sin" in a general sense but specific and personal iniquity that arose in his own heart and mind, the natural tendency of his human frame to lead him away from obedience to God and feed the flesh.  Knowing we are kept by God who loves us and who demonstrated this by giving us His only begotten Son Jesus, we ought to keep ourselves from our iniquity.  By God's strength and grace, we can.