Psalm 19:13a (NKJV)
“Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me,”
It’s no big deal. It doesn’t really matter. This won’t impact me or anyone else. In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing. I’m fine. I live a good enough life. I don’t do anything REALLY bad. I don’t need to change my behavior. Even if it’s wrong, I’ll work it out. God understands. No one will ever know. I can manage this. God’s not THAT strict, after all, He loves me.
Maybe all of that is true. What if it’s not? What if all those little things are adding up and we’re just presuming upon God? What if we’re presuming there are no consequences, no loss, no repercussions? What if we’re presuming He doesn’t care about the choice we are making and we’re wrong? Or do we presume that our reward is set in stone and the little sins don’t matter?
Presumptuous sin. The NIV version of the Bible calls it “willful” sin. Do we always notice it? Do we choose to follow through without assessing whether it is sin or not because it is so small? Are we so arrogant and prideful that, even if it’s big, we do it anyway? If it is willful, no matter the size, it is a big deal.
We miss the last part, don’t we? That part about it having dominion over us. Something so small that becomes a habit hard to break. Something so strong that we can’t control ourselves. Something that started as a willful choice that we continue because we just don’t think about it any more? Something so dominant that we are under its power. I wonder how many of our small, presumptuous sins have dominion over us and we don’t even realize it. We never stop to think about it any more.
So, like David, we ask. We ask God to show them to us so we can deal with them. We ask Him for help, so we’re not controlled by them. We ask for forgiveness so we are not judged for them. We choose to not presume upon God and seek to honor Him in all areas of our life, even the smallest ones. We choose to not give any place to willful sin. We choose to not be presumptuous.