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.
4 I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
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.8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory 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.
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. – Psalm 26:1-12
Psalm 26:8 is one of my favorite passages. (Sometimes I think that is a stupid thing to say when there are so many passages in Scripture that carry so much weight with me.) I digress…”O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.”
Of course, this was David’s statement.
I think it can only truly be said by folks who have been captured by the grace of God and have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is a meaningless sentence to anyone who has not been captured by grace.
But how could David make a statement like this when he was guilty of adultery with Bathsheba and then in an attempt to cover up his adultery he arranged for the murder of Bathsheba’s husband? The answer: he was a man of integrity. Whoa, now. That doesn’t seem to follow.
Stay with me.
Integrity doesn’t mean perfection or sinlessness. Play with the word a little. Something that has integrity is an integrated thing. All its parts fit together. For a man, he can’t be one way internally and another way externally for the world to see.
While David did temporarily try to hide his sin from the world, when confronted by the prophet with, “You are the man,” David immediately repented, confessed his sin to God.
In spite of our failings, we can truly be persons of integrity so we can say with David,
“Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.”
One can only walk in this kind of integrity if, like David, they are a person of faith. Not necessarily a giant of faith, but a person who simply trusts the Lord and takes him at his word.
Here is the real key: “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.”
Even though David made a point of not hanging out with the wrong crowd, that isn’t the basis of his confidence. He looks to the character of God, his steadfast love, and faithfulness.
A good New Testament equivalent is “grace and truth.” We walk with the grace of God before our eyes and we walk in God’s faithfulness to his promises, the truth.
God’s steadfast love, his HESED (the Hebrew word translated steadfast love), is perfected in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the One who was faithful to live a perfectly sinless life that is now credited to the account of every person who places their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We walk in his faithfulness, not ours.
It is this provision that allows us to know the “habitation” of his house, that is to live in his house with him. And to live in the place where his glory dwells. Because of Jesus, we get to hang out with the Lord in his house and bask in the glory of God. Hallelujah!
