Living From The Heart

David is affirming values in these passages. I will put nothing worthless before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away. This is a wordplay on the idea of lovingkindness and disloyalty. The word fall away is the antithesis of Hesid. In other words, I love those who are loyal to God and loyal to God’s Word. I hate those who are disloyal to God and disloyal to His Word, and who are disloyal to their word. He doesn’t hate them emotionally, but He’s saying, “I disavow. I won’t deal with those who are disloyal, who are not consistent with what they believe.” I hate the work of those who fall away. Affirming values.

Now notice what he says in the next phrase: It shall not fasten its grip on me. He’s talking about the work of those he hates. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Where’s the origin of his perversity? His heart! He’s recognizing the corruption even as the king who makes these declarations. It’s a very visual picture of evil men pulling us down into the mire. “I won’t do it, he says.” He’s affirming values.

If you don’t learn to respect the human agencies in your life, how will you ever respect Yahweh? How will you ever respect your God and King, Jesus Christ? You must learn to respect those in authority over you. I will not endure a haughty look. It’s a great lesson. No room for gossip, no room for slander, no room for people that wink when they tell stories.

Commitment to a Core Community

Is it kind, true, and confidential? For a leader, character is everything. From David’s life, we learn that character is everything and when following this well, the kingdom prospered. When David inquired of the Lord and went up he succeeded every time. When he had a failure or a misstep and he went back to God and prayed to Him and inquired of God, God answered him every single time. If you go back and look through the Chronicles and I Samuel, he inquired of the Lord. Why do so many successful people fail so miserably? 

There’s a vertical commitment to serve the king. There’s an internal commitment to his own character and now there’s a horizontal and downward commitment to those over whom he is king.

Now David expands the way of integrity that he announced in verse 2. He’s going to talk about the people who are going to serve with him. Instead of running with the wrong crowd, he’s going to run with the right crowd. Only those who are blameless minded will serve with him. 

In Psalm 101:8 it says, Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land. The king had a job to protect the confines of Israel and take the land that God had given them, that was going to be their land. The king of course would destroy the enemies of Yahweh, the enemies of Israel, the enemies of God’s chosen people. God told them to do this. What he’s saying here is,“I won’t be dilatory. If God says to go take this people and go fight this battle, we’re going to go do it. We’re not going to live in fear and worry about it. We’re going to obey the Word of the Lord.”

To Be Faithful Where We Are

E G Punchard writes, The test of all ministry comes in the last day, the day of fiery trial and inquisition. This and not the world’s opinion is the real approval. Unfortunately, this Psalm is haunting because we know about David’s end; we know about his finish. But we don’t have to do it that way.

Obviously, we don’t have the pressures of being the king of a nation, but we have the pressures of being faithful servants where we are. We serve Yahweh, not ourselves. We serve Jesus Christ, not our self interests. These three things apply: We need a commitment to Christ. We need a commitment to our character, that our character is refined by the Word of God and by His Spirit. We need a commitment to people who will be truthful, who will be faithful, who will walk the way of integrity with us. 

If you have those three things, you will do well in this Christian life. A commitment to Christ. I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, To Thee O Lord, I will sing praises. I will be committed to a chore of integrity. You must be a truthful person; a person who when I sin, I will keep a short account. You must keep people around you who will surround and help you. They will walk with you and you will trust them and they will trust you. I will not be dilatory in the way I’m supposed to serve Christ. It’s a pretty good vision for life.

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