Guilty Until Made Innocent

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my Redeemer.”  Psalm 19:14

We all stand guilty before our righteous God.  Even if we consider ourselves to be fairly “good” people, you know, we don’t cheat on our taxes, don’t drive over the speed limit, don’t have any mean or lustful thoughts, have never said a curse word, have never criticized or gossiped about another person, have never become angry without a righteous cause, have always put others first before our own needs, and, well, I could go on, but just typing out these things proves that we are not as “good” as we think we are.  If there is any human out there who has never done anything displeasing to the Lord, raise your hand.  I don’t see any hands going up, especially mine.

God is the One who sets the standard of “goodness”.  Sin is not only violating the commandments of God, it is also defined as not meeting God’s standard of righteousness, which is perfection.  In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He said to “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).  He said this after a long list of behaviors that men and women should follow if they wanted to strive for perfection.  At that time, God’s people were living under the law.  Christ had not yet been crucified to pay the penalty for the sin of men and women.  These admonitions of which Christ spoke were how God’s people were to live to please God.  However, obeying the law and making the required sacrifices were only temporary measures in order to be made acceptable to God.  Every person was still guilty, and none were innocent before Him.  The way of salvation before Christ’s sacrifice was to believe in the promise of God to send a Savior and to live in light of that promise.

The Psalmist David wrote Psalm 19 to declare God’s glory in His being and in all that He had made.  How could one not look at the sky, the mountains, the great oceans, the stars at night, and the vast land masses and not glorify God?  He hung the sun in the sky, giving its bright light and warmth from one end of heaven throughout the universe to the other end of heaven.  David described this brightness as the look upon a bridegroom’s face as he heads to the altar to be united to the woman he loves or as a man eager to compete in a race.  Whatever God says is perfect and certain.  All who follow His commands are wise.  His laws are to benefit man, to make him intelligent in the ways of the LORD.  To fear God is to keep one’s heart clean.

God judges righteously in truth.  We crave His righteous judgments for they keep us on the straight and narrow path rewarding us in the end.  David asked the LORD to help him not to err and to show him his sin of which he was unaware.  (While this is a necessary enquiry, how many of us have the courage to ask God to show us our sins?)  David also requested God to never let him presume his innocence before Him, and to let everything that he did and said be acceptable to the LORD, his (and our) Strength and Redeemer.  David understood that he was guilty before the LORD, but he also knew God’s forgiveness and that He would send a Savior one day who would make all those sinners who confessed their guilt and trusted Christ to become innocent and justified–just as if I had never sinned.  If that doesn’t amaze us, then what will?