Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Jun 21st, 2023 I Have and I Will

Today’s Reading – Psalm 26 – 31 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – 1 Peter 1 – 5; Psalms 101 – 105; Proverbs 21)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Isaiah 51:11

Read the “0621 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this passage – “Joy Cometh in the Morning.”

“1 Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; [therefore] I shall not slide. 2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. 3 For thy lovingkindness [is] before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth. 4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked. 6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD: 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. 8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. 9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: 10 In whose hands [is] mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. 12 My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD. (Psalm 26:1-12)

This Psalm is another one of the Psalms of David. Possibly, it was written during the times that King Saul was pursuing David, or possibly it was at the time that his son Absalom was in rebellion.

This Psalm has an interesting structure. You will notice often the phrases, “I have” and “I will” repeated over and over again throughout the Psalm.

I have walked in integrity (v. 1); I have walked in truth; I will walk in integrity (v. 11)

I have trusted (v. 1); I shall not slide (v. 2)

I have not sat (v. 4); I will not go (v. 4)

I have hated (v. 5); I will not sit (v. 5)

I will wash (v. 6); I will compass (v. 6)

I have loved (v. 8); I will bless (v. 12)

I          David Asks the Lord to Examine, Prove, and Try Him. (v 2)

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:23-24)

The word “examine” means to scrutinize, or to look closely at something.

“The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” (Psalms 11:4 )

The word, “prove,” means to examine, tempt, or to put to the test:

“And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.” (Psalms 78:18)

“Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.”(Daniel 1:12)

The word “try” is the word that is used to refine metal.

“And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:”(Isaiah 1:25)

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” (1 Peter 1:7)

Notice that he asks God to do this to both his reins and his heart.

The word translated “reins” is sometimes used for the word “kidney”, the physical organ. It is used here and in many other places to refer to the seat of emotion and affection.

“Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.” (Psalms 7:9)

The word heart can be used to refer to almost the same thing, but it can also refer to the soul and mind.

So what is David asking here?

He is asking God to take a close look at his mind (his thinking), and his emotions (his attitude, his will). He wants God to test them, and to try them. When a person has heart problems today, the doctor will look him over carefully, and then he will send him for a battery of tests, and then he may “try” him by putting him through a stress test. Here in our text, David was asking for a thorough examination. The Word of God and the Spirit of God examine us as well:

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

II         David Acknowledges His Love for the House of God (vs. 8, 12)

The House of the Lord in the Old Testament was the temple. Notice v. 12 speaks of congregations (plural). David loved the Lord’s house – the temple; but he also loved to be with God’s people and he testified (blessed the Lord) wherever God’s people were gathered.

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Notice in v. 12, the reference to the “even place,” meaning level terrain. This means that David was standing on ground and following a path that would keep him from falling into sin. He kept away from places that were spiritually dangerous for him. The House of God, which was the Tabernacle in David’s day, was a safe place for Him. The church house with God’s people gathered together and the Word of God being proclaimed is a safe, “even” place for us today. The Bible also refers to “sliding” (v. 1), and “slippery” places (Psalm 73:18; Jeremiah 23:12), which are places that people sometimes go that will be spiritually dangerous and conducive to falling.

III       David Asserts His Disdain for the Works of the Wicked (vs. 4 – 5; 9 – 10)

“1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

“I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” (Psalms 101:3)