In the Face of False Charges
Faced with accusations and evil intentions from his enemies, David turns to the Lord and His presence. He speaks profound if not fearful words for many of us.
Psalm 26:1–3 (ESV) Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. 3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.
What a prayer! To walk before the Lord with this kind of confidence seems unimaginable. But notice, it is not before the Lord he's walking but before people. That is, in this particular case, David knows he hasn't done wrong.
He says to the Lord, "I have walked in my integrity" because... "I walk in your faithfulness."
God's faithful love should produce a change in character when people attack and malign us. His faithfulness toward His people produces an uprightness the world cannot know or understand. The Lord makes us people of integrity. Because of His love and faithfulness we produce good things in our lives.
Jesus said "A good tree produces good fruit, make the tree good and it's fruit will be good." Through Jesus we are made good. We are people who no longer have to hide in the shadows and work at night. This is what we are by faith and must work out in practice. David knew this, saying at the end of the Psalm in Verse 11: "But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me."
In other words, David knew that His standing before God and man was rooted in God's work of redemption and grace. To misunderstand that, to not grasp it, leads to all kinds of conniving and chicanery because we trust in what we can do and not what God can do in and through us. By nature we are liars and swindlers, through God's grace we are made righteous and new, our hearts are changed and we stand on the "level ground" in the "great assembly.
Psalm 26:1–3 (ESV) Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind. 3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.
What a prayer! To walk before the Lord with this kind of confidence seems unimaginable. But notice, it is not before the Lord he's walking but before people. That is, in this particular case, David knows he hasn't done wrong.
He says to the Lord, "I have walked in my integrity" because... "I walk in your faithfulness."
God's faithful love should produce a change in character when people attack and malign us. His faithfulness toward His people produces an uprightness the world cannot know or understand. The Lord makes us people of integrity. Because of His love and faithfulness we produce good things in our lives.
Jesus said "A good tree produces good fruit, make the tree good and it's fruit will be good." Through Jesus we are made good. We are people who no longer have to hide in the shadows and work at night. This is what we are by faith and must work out in practice. David knew this, saying at the end of the Psalm in Verse 11: "But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me."
In other words, David knew that His standing before God and man was rooted in God's work of redemption and grace. To misunderstand that, to not grasp it, leads to all kinds of conniving and chicanery because we trust in what we can do and not what God can do in and through us. By nature we are liars and swindlers, through God's grace we are made righteous and new, our hearts are changed and we stand on the "level ground" in the "great assembly.
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