“Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant sins; do not allow such sins to control me. Then I will be blameless, and innocent of blatant rebellion.” Psalms 19:13 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/psa.19.13.NET

This psalm, this prayer request to God, was written by David, the man after God’s heart. Early in his life, David loved God deeply and was passionate about pleasing Him. After David was quite successful, something happened to him, and he fell into sin, causing significant trouble for himself and his family throughout the end of his life. David prayed that no flagrant sin, no condemned activity by God, would control his life. David prayed to be blameless, compliant to God, and obedient. David’s prayer was not answered in the affirmative. Why? These prayers are responded to not by God overriding all of our deeds but by empowering us to choose His ways if we will stop, seek Him, turn to Him, and run away from what seeks to lead us astray. The answer to prayers of faithfulness, sinlessness, and righteousness, is accomplished by God’s power and our choices. We partner with God in answering these prayers. God does not make us robots. He doesn’t override our freedom to choose. He may keep more temptations away from us than we will ever know, but for those that come, we must choose to obey even as the Lord Jesus always chose to obey and so remained perfect when He lived among us as a man like us. Praying to live a blameless life is a good prayer that God wants to answer but to answer perfectly, we must choose to cooperate fully in the work of obedience.