Level Ground
In the previous psalm, Psalm 25, we saw that David asked God to “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth … for you are my Savior.” Here in Psalm 26 David makes a bold request of God. David asks God to examine him to see if he has correctly understood the ways of God; has he actually walked in God’s paths, and followed God’s truth as instructed. David starts out Psalm 26by praying, “Judge me, O Lord, for I have trusted in the Lord. I shall not slip.”
Before we go on let’s clear up one possible misconception. David is not saying that he did anything to earn his right to come to God. David did not merit his salvation. He already made it clear in Psalm 25 that God was and is his Savior. No, David is saying, “God, now that you have rescued me, brought me into your family, and taught me your ways, examine me. See if I have learned to follow your paths. I don’t want to slip off your path, the level ground that you have placed me on. I fully intend to follow the truths, the way that leads to life, that you have taught me.”
Bold request!
As you read through this psalm imagine yourself asking God to judge your life, your thoughts and actions, your plans and aspirations. What would His verdict be?
| Psalm 26, A Psalm of David | Level Ground |
| 1 Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in integrity and have trusted in the Lord.I shall not slip. | 1. Judge me: Examine my walk: outward conductExamine my heart: inward trust and attitude Examine my mind: thoughts, plans |
| 2 Examine me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and mind. 3 For your lovingkindness is before my eyesand I have walked constantly in your truth. | Do not conform to the pattern of this world but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 |
| 4 I have not sat with deceitful men, nor did I consort with hypocrites 5 I hate the assembly of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked | 2. The Company You Keep We do not avoid deceitful people because we are too good for them, no, on the contrary we are not good enough, strong enough to not succumb to temptation. “flee youthful lusts” 2 Timothy 2:22 “each is tempted … when enticed” James 1:13-15 |
| 6 I will wash my hands in innocence and I will go around your altar, O Lord, 7 To hear the sound of praise and to recount all your wondrous deeds. 8 I love the house where you live, O Lord,the place where your glory dwells. | 3. Love for God and God’s People We are to recount, tell everyone, of God’s wondrous deeds: salvation, blessing, giving us meaning, purpose and value. “that the wisdom of God might be made known” Ephesians 3:10 |
| 9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners, or my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 In whose hands are wicked schemes, whose hands are full of bribes. | Because: Wickedness deceives those who are perishing. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 |
| 11 But I shall walk in integrity –redeem me and be gracious to me. 12 My foot has stood on level ground; in the great assembly of worship, I will praise the Lord. | 4. Walk in Integrity God in His Grace has redeemed us, given us the lives we could not make for ourselves. Put us on Level Ground.Praise God! |
Let’s face it, if we are honest, we all frequently either:
- ignore God and His paths altogether to pursue our own ways,
- or, we pay lip-service to God’s paths but still try to see how close we can get to doing what we want without crossing the line into outright disobedience to God.
But God asks us, “Why do you seek after things that ultimately cannot and will not satisfy your longings?” Isaiah 55:2
Or as Paul teaches us, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these … Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-20 & I Corinthians 6:9-10
All of these behaviors are dead ends.
Speaking to new believers who have given their lives over to Jesus, Paul reminds them that they should give up chasing after the former things that could not ultimately satisfy them. Now that they have been adopted into God’s family they are to seek to learn God’s paths. Paul wrote … “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11
Did you catch that? “Such were some of you.” Before being rescued by Christ they had perhaps sought fulfillment in the behaviors listed above by Paul, or were perhaps prisoners to such behaviors. But Christians no longer need to desperately seek fulfillment in those things nor must they be prisoners to such things as anger, jealousy or disputes because now they are being made new: slowly, haltingly, and not without struggle but, nevertheless being made new. Christ offers true freedom. As such Christians are to no longer identify with their past behaviors, they are now to identify with Jesus and, like David, over a lifetime, seek to learn God’s ways and follow God’s paths which alone can bring life both now and into eternity. Level ground! Contrary to what our culture currently teaches, there remains real hope for those caught in the trap of behaviors and lifestyles that cannot bring fulfillment. Maybe you are seeking fulfillment in alcohol or drugs, maybe you believe that fulfillment can come through possessions and experiences or perhaps you are pursuing sensuality in one of its many forms: pornography, homosexuality, adultery, effeminacy, pre-marital sex. But here’s the Good News, when those things stop working, as they all eventually must, because that is not how the Creator of Life designed us, follow David’s example and call on the God who loves you and has offered you salvation, no strings attached, and then as a new member of God’s eternal family, pursue the paths of life.
Hymn: Search Me, O God