Psalm 66:18 (NKJV) — 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.Do you have sin in your heart? Have you been coveting? Have you had selfish attitudes? Have you been giving your affections to things or people above God? Let’s say this in unison: “Guilty! Of course I have. I’m not perfect.” Have you been praying and reading your Bible everyday? Have you been sharing the Gospel daily with friends and strangers? Have you loved your neighbor as you love yourself? Have you … do you? Well, have you? One more time in unison: “Guilty! Of course I haven’t. I’m not perfect.” My point: If we interpret this scripture as saying that our hearts have to be perfectly clean for God to hear our prayers then we should just give up. I’m not perfect, and I am sure (absolutely sure) that you’re not either. Including the Pope–if you’re reading my blog. I’m absolutely sure this includes you. Every Christian is continually in growth mode. As the Apostle Paul wrote about himself, he is not perfect and he wrestled with sin–doing what he didn’t want to do and didn’t do what he wanted to do. “Oh wretched man that I am!” Romans 7:15-25. Everyone of us can relate to Paul. This leaves us needing to see this verse without the bad rap that it gets. The God of Prayer would not be calling us to call upon Him for help or communion and then say, “Whoa! What do you think you are doing here? You still have not conquered those sins in your life that I pointed out to you. Come back when you have it all together, and I mean, ALL TOGETHER! Then, and only then, we’ll talk. Then I’ll hear what you have to say. And until then, I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING!!” I admit that I had some fun writing that last paragraph. But seriously, we know God wouldn’t say that, right? He knows we are not perfect and never can be. He knows that we will wrestle with sins until our last breath. This is why Jesus died for us and we need Him 24/7. This is why Jesus is our eternal propitiation. This is why Jesus is forever interceding for us as our eternal Sanctifier, High Priest, and Sin-Sacrifice. It’s not about perfection, but the direction we are pursuing. So I leave you here with these obvious questions to ponder: If Psalm 66:18 is not expecting us to be perfect before we can take our requests to our heavenly Father, then what is it saying? If it is not intended to be a road block to prayer, then what is it? Next step: Meditate on the context in the light of the New Covenant. I’ll share some of that light later.
Psalm 66:18 is one of those verses in the Bible that has gotten a rotten rap. It has been used by preachers as a whip to chase people out of the proverbial prayer closet. Something like, “If you have sin in your heart, then God will ignore your prayer requests!” Then a double exclamation point is added on to the end of their self-righteous statement!! When we mangle this scripture it becomes a divider between the God of Prayer and the cries of His people. Here is the scripture:
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