Have you ever had one of those dreams in which you find yourself in that dream sinning against the Lord? Perhaps egregiously? And knowingly? From time to time I have.
If you’re like me, when you awake you have a sense of relief that it didn’t really happen. But there’s also a startled-ness as you think, “Oh, my! Could I actually do that against my Lord? Grieve so deeply the One I love?”
I try to turn those occasions into a prayer, the words of which are given us by the psalmist: Lord, keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me. (Ps. 19:13)
A presumptuous sin is a willful, insolent sin. We just go ahead and do it regardless.
There have been times in my life when I just decided to do what I wanted to do even though I knew it was wrong. Though it’s a very dangerous place to be in, as Hebrews 10:26 tells us, I know from experience that I have the capacity to sin egregiously, even knowingly, against my Lord. Thus the motivation for such a prayer: Lord, keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins.