Let no iniquity have dominion

Direct my steps by Your word,
And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
Redeem me from the oppression of man,
That I may keep Your precepts. – Psalm 119.133-134

David, like all believers I think, hated the fact that he had to deal with sin in his life. It is a terrible fact that Paul addresses in Romans 7. ‘I do all the things I don’t want to to and I don’t do the things I want to.’ It is something I can certainly identify with and every Christian I know deals with. It is simply a fact of life for a new creation living in an old flesh.

But David prayed that sin would not have dominion over him. He did not want sin to reign over him. He hated the notion of being a slave to sin.

We have something David didn’t have. We have the wonderful words of Romans 6-8. In this extended passage Paul deals with the notion of the problem mentioned above.

But before he does that he gives the good news in Romans 6. The truth is that since we died with Christ and are raised to walk in newness of life in Him we are no longer captives to sin. Sin no more has dominion over us. The power of sin to rule in us is broken. We don’t have to submit to its authority. We have a new Master in Christ.

That’s great news, but it also brings about a harsh reality. When we sin, and we will, we can’t say ‘I am can’t help it’ or ‘I just can’t get the victory’ because sin has NO power over us. We sin because we choose to serve our flesh instead of yielding to the Spirit. We sin because at that moment the urge to obey sin is greater than our desire to please the One who died for us.

No iniquity has dominion over us. When we sin we sin because we want to. May I 'reckon mysefl indeed dead to sin' and not give it rein over me,