Psalm 26
Psalm 26:1-12 Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth. I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites; I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, O Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells. Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes. But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me. My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the Lord.
Psalms 26, 27, and 28 reveal David’s love for God’s sanctuary (26:6-8; 27:4-7; 28:2), which in David’s day was the tabernacle on Mount Zion. God didn’t permit David to build the Temple (2 Samuel 7), but He did give him the plans for the Temple and helped him accumulate from the spoils of battle great wealth to provide for material for constructing the temple (1 Chronicles 22:28-29). But not all who gathered to worship at the sanctuary were sincere in their walk or their worship, and some of them were openly disobedient and spread lies about the king. This may have been the situation that led to the writing of this psalm.
In Psalm 25 David confessed his sins, and David was a great sinner. But in this psalm David talks about his righteousness. David did have righteousness. I don’t know about you, but I have perfect righteousness—but it is not Mike Demastus’. 1 Corinthians 1:30 tells us, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Jesus has been made to me righteousness as well as redemption. This is on the plus side of the ledger, and I stand complete in Him, accepted in the love of God.
This psalm was probably written when David was in distress, and particularly when he was falsely accused and defamed by his adversaries, as he frequently was by Saul and his aristocratic brown-nosers; and therefore, for his vindication he makes a solemn appeal to God, and protests his innocence. Though David is expressing his personal concerns, this psalm voices the uneasiness of any devout soul when immersed in a godless society. To Christian ears, this is an odd psalm, for it is a violent protest of complete innocence, presented not to man, but to God. It seems at odds to the Christian teaching that in God’s sight no living man can be justified apart from the imposition of God’s saving grace. But David’s heart stood open before God as he rested and trusted in God’s complete forgiveness of sin and restoration of the penitent sinner.
PRAY
Father God always help me remember to not remember confessed and forgiven sin.