Psalm 26

Of David.

1 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. [test my kidneys and my heart]

David is enduring public scrutiny as king, and perhaps he has even been falsely accused of something. This is the nature of leadership. Criticism cannot be avoided. You can’t please everyone. Add your favorite cliche here. Leaders are in the bullseye for judgment. Whether it’s picking apart the preacher or the worship leader or the youth minister or the janitor, there is always fault to find if you’re looking for it. David was one of the greatest kings of Judah, and one who was declared to be a man after God’s own heart. And yet, there were some finding fault to the extent that he feels the need to appeal to God for defense. He declares confidently that he has walked in integrity and trusted in the LORD without wavering. This echoes verse 21 (integrity) and verse 2 (trust) in the previous psalm. In other words, in Psalm 26 David declares that he has faithfully embodied Psalm 25. Furthermore, he invites the LORD’s scrutiny (He’s already getting it from men apparently). He prays, “prove me”, “try me”, and “test my heart and my mind” (literally, my kidneys and my heart). He summons the LORD to do an examination of his conduct and his motives. Many of us can get our conduct right, it’s the motives that trip us up -- the things that no one can really see. Only God can see the motives, so we must be careful to judge the motives of others. We assume that people are like us, motivated by the same things. So if our actions are moved by plays for power or self-interest, we assume other’s actions are as well. Examine my actions and motivations today. Bring my walking, my talking, and my thinking in line with your ways. If I am criticized, let it be your judgment that truly matters to me. 

3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

4 I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites.

David makes his case for his innocence and it is reminiscent of the first psalm with its references to walking, sitting, and consorting (standing?) with those who are out of step with the LORD. First, David doesn’t take his eyes off of the LORD’s steadfast love. With this focus, it becomes a little easier to order your steps in the ways of God. Knowing that the LORD is faithful in his love towards you makes you want to return that love. Second, David pledges to walk in the LORD’s faithfulness as well. Walk is a metaphor for live, for our  everyday coming and going including our interactions with others. To walk in the LORD’s faithfulness is to conduct your life in a way that reflects the steadiness and consistency of God, qualities that are on display everywhere through what he has made and through what he has revealed in the Torah. David can keep the commandments of the LORD because he knows that God is faithful. Again, it’s easier to be faithful to one who is faithful to you. For example, knowing that one’s spouse is wandering makes it easier to rationalize your own wandering. Third, David doesn’t sit with liars. He doesn’t place himself in the company in any kind of permanent way with those who play fast and loose with the truth. Every day there is a battle for truth in our culture -- at the political level as played out in the mainstream media and on social media as well as on the broader arena a worldview (of which politics is downstream). Be one who examines everything with a deep commitment to truth (not party). Then in your personal relationships, be a man who will not compromise when it comes to honesty, always wielding truth with kindness and helpfulness. Finally, David doesn’t hang out with hypocrites. He has already declared himself to be a man of integrity -- his insides matching his outsides -- so it would not be fitting to associate with those who are living incoherently. If there is hypocrisy in me, reveal it with the blazing light of your holiness. Prove me, test me, try my heart and my mind. 

5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.

6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD,

7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.

Verses 6 and 7 are central to the psalm -- a declaration of innocence and a commitment to worship God in every circumstance. David continues in the vein of the first psalm, refusing to walk in the counsel of evildoers or sit with the wicked. He is determined to remain counter-cultural in his thinking and his actions. The default position of the world is evil and wickedness. If you don’t believe that God is watching, then it simply becomes a matter of what you can get away with. David will have none of it because he knows that in fact God is watching and so David’s conduct and thinking matter. It’s easy to gather with the crowd and cozy up to the popular crowd. This is the path of least resistance, but it is not the path of life. David takes our thoughts back to Psalm 24 with his reference to washing his hands and going around the LORD’s altar. This statement has a double meaning. He is both ceremonially clean and morally clean. He performs the public acts of worship that are prescribed in the law (in this case, ceremonial hand washing, ritual offerings, and singing), but given what he said about hypocrites in verse 4, we can assume that David has aligned his actions with the law as well. He is claiming moral purity while worshiping publicly, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud and telling of God’s wondrous deeds. This is a good picture of modern worship as well. We assemble with clean hands, performing public rituals that signify alignment with God’s covenant. We gather around the altar, which in the church is represented by a cross or crucifix, corresponding to the altar of sacrifice in the temple. We proclaim aloud our thanks and praise for God’s wonderful deeds. In short, the believer finds a new community which forms him. Rather than be shaped by the assembly of evildoers, the faithful are shaped by the worshiping community. While this psalm is primarily a first person singular prayer of David, these verses imply community. After all, what is the point of proclaiming thanksgiving with no one to listen. This is one reason why corporate worship should not be neglected. We need one another; we need to remind one another of the truth, and we need to hold one another accountable to walk in the ways that are right, otherwise we will be swept downstream in a culture that by nature flows away from God and righteousness. 

8 O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.

As David recounts his hand washing and his worship around the altar, he declares his love for dwelling in the house of God. He’s referring to the tabernacle here, a place from which he is in fact forbidden. Scholars think that David may be referring to a separate tent here, one that he constructed adjacent to the tabernacle, one in which he could participate in the worship of YHWH even though he was not a priest. I’ll assume that’s the case because I can’t imagine David being in violation of the law when it came to entering the actual holy place as a non-priest. Or perhaps the reference to the altar is evidence that David entered the court but not the tabernacle proper. The laver for washing and the altar of sacrifice were both outside the tabernacle. At any rate, the force of what he is saying is that he loves to be in what scholars call “cultic space” -- the actual physical space where it is believed that God dwells. Of course David knows that God is present everywhere, but he is present in his set-apart “house” in a special way. It is the place where his glory dwells. This is all very mysterious, but as one who has encountered the presence of God in such a way myself in church buildings and on mountain tops, it is an absolutely undeniable experience. The lesson for us is that while we can experience God’s presence anywhere that we choose (and David certainly did on the battlefield, in caves, and while watching sheep), one of those places should be the designated cultic space of corporate worship. There is often an effort to downplay this by pointing out that we can worship God anywhere, and this is true. However, I believe we encounter God in the faces and lives of those that we worship with as well. We encounter God when we take the special effort to go to a sacred space and prepare ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually to meet with him and with his body on earth -- the church. Do you love the place where God dwells? Do you consistently meet him there? Are you expecting to meet him? Perhaps that is the issue when going to church becomes merely routine. Love the place where God dwells. 

9 Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men,

10 in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.

David has invited God’s testing, and here he asks that he not be swept away with sinners. He uses the term “soul” in parallel with “life”, suggesting strong similarity between these two words. His request seems to be about judgment as David understands that the wicked will be punished suddenly and completely. He doesn’t want to be with them when the consequences of their behavior come down upon them. These sinners are described as “bloodthirsty men” who are actively using evil devices and engaged in corruption of society (bribery). It’s not overstating it to see the connection between sin and death in this text. It’s easy to see that one of the modern parallels in our culture is the issue of abortion. The divide on this issue seems stronger than ever with women now being encouraged to celebrate their abortion in a show of bloodlust. Gone are the days of safe, legal and rare. In order to ensure absolute sexual freedom, abortion advocates are manipulating and exploiting men and women and ultimately corrupting justice. The twisted logic that says, “I’m personally opposed to abortion, but you should be free to decide for yourself” is exactly the kind of thing the psalmist is speaking of here. That’s like saying, “I would never own a slave, but you’re free to do so.” The central issue is that an abortion is the killing of a human being. It is a moral evil and I don’t want to be swept away with a culture that turns a blind eye to it. David may be feeling pressure here to adopt the ways of the world as a leader, to give into the temptation to power. As a monarch, he could do whatever he wanted (and later he did commit adultery and murder). Assuming this psalm was written earlier in life, apparently this was a struggle David had for some time before he eventually succumbed to temptation. In context, David is resisting the temptation to do things as the world does and instead to be a man of integrity, diligently following after YHWH. May we not be swept away in the cultural currents and pulled out to sea to our deaths. 

11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.

12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.

David returns to an earlier theme as he concludes this prayer. This time it is stated in the positive as far as what he will do, not what he won’t do. He shall walk in integrity, his inner beliefs and outward actions in congruence. He considers his steps and the direction in which he is headed as well as who is walking beside him. His foot stands on level ground. He’s not shaky and will not be shaken. His path is not slippery or tortuous. One might say that it is straight and narrow. This psalm has several references to standing, walking and sitting. This suggests a connection to Psalm 1 although the first psalm was probably written much later. David’s personal walk in integrity and his stand on level ground are quite public. He is the king after all, but he is also a worshiper. He declares that he will worship the LORD publicly in the great assembly. He will not be ashamed of the LORD but loudly and vocally honor him. His request is simple, “redeem me and be gracious to me.” Out the abundance of God’s steadfast love and kindness, redeem me -- purchase me from my slavery to self and grant me freedom to walk in your ways. Redeem me from this current situation where my reputation is under attack although I have done nothing wrong. Redeem me from this world and the powers of society that would sweep me away into catastrophe. I cannot be a man of integrity, a man who walks the straight and narrow in a world that is tortuous and corrupt without God’s grace and redemption.