Psa 26:10 | KingComments | STEP | After his expressions of love for the dwelling place of God, David returns in to the sinners and the men of bloodshed (cf. ). He finds himself, as he has said, not in their company. He did not want to have to do with the lifestyle of the wicked. Now, therefore, he asks the LORD not to let him share in the fate of the wicked. The “sinners” are those who have yielded to a life of sin and rebellion against God. They are “the men of bloodshed”, or violent, bloodthirsty people. God will take away their lives. This is just, for they have not washed their hands in innocence. On the contrary, their hands, their actions, are marked by “a wicked scheme” and bribery ( ). With them he does not want to be associated in life nor in death. He distances himself as far as possible from people who openly commit crimes and from people who secretly carry out their pernicious acts. Very different, completely opposite, is his attitude, which he indicates by saying: “But as for me.” He repeats what he said in , that he goes his way in his “integrity” ( ). By beginning and ending with this point, he emphasizes it and now boldly asks for redemption. At the same time, he asks that God be gracious to him. Here we see that David is not claiming a right to redemption because he is integrous. He is integrous, he realizes, because God made him so, and he lives integrous, he also realizes, because God enables him to do so. Redemption can never take place on the basis of any merit of man. David testifies in the last verse of the answer to his prayer ( ). He says that his “foot stands on a level place”. It is a place that God has levelled for him, that is, a place from which God has removed all obstacles to stumbling, so that the believer is in no danger of wavering and stumbling (cf. ). Then David speaks about how he will “bless” or “praise the LORD” in “the congregations” of God’s people. This is also the beauty of the meetings of the Christian church. We come together and together we can glorify God for the work that His Son has accomplished for each member of the church personally and for the church as a whole. The psalm calls for a careful self-examination of our dedication to God. It corresponds to what the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians in connection with partaking of the Lord’s Supper: “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup” ( ). Those who take the Lord’s Supper seriously will examine themselves. This self-examination, this “examining himself”, is necessary. Self-examination always has a result. It may be that we remember things that are not good; we can then get rid of them by confessing them (cf. ). It can also be that we are sincerely unaware of anything; then we can participate in the Lord’s Supper without fear. Staying away from the Lord’s Supper or letting the Lord’s Supper pass us by is by no means the ideal solution. We would then let the obstacle or sin triumph over our love for the Lord Jesus. No, let us examine ourselves, get rid of the hindrance or the wrong and eat the bread in this way and drink the cup in this way, while we glorify Him for what He has done.

‏ Psalms 26:10

Reward for Integrity

After his expressions of love for the dwelling place of God, David returns in Psa 26:9 to the sinners and the men of bloodshed (cf. Psa 26:4-5). He finds himself, as he has said, not in their company. He did not want to have to do with the lifestyle of the wicked. Now, therefore, he asks the LORD not to let him share in the fate of the wicked. The “sinners” are those who have yielded to a life of sin and rebellion against God. They are “the men of bloodshed”, or violent, bloodthirsty people.

God will take away their lives. This is just, for they have not washed their hands in innocence. On the contrary, their hands, their actions, are marked by “a wicked scheme” and bribery (Psa 26:10). With them he does not want to be associated in life nor in death. He distances himself as far as possible from people who openly commit crimes and from people who secretly carry out their pernicious acts.

Very different, completely opposite, is his attitude, which he indicates by saying: “But as for me.” He repeats what he said in Psa 26:1, that he goes his way in his “integrity” (Psa 26:11). By beginning and ending with this point, he emphasizes it and now boldly asks for redemption.

At the same time, he asks that God be gracious to him. Here we see that David is not claiming a right to redemption because he is integrous. He is integrous, he realizes, because God made him so, and he lives integrous, he also realizes, because God enables him to do so. Redemption can never take place on the basis of any merit of man.

David testifies in the last verse of the answer to his prayer (Psa 26:12). He says that his “foot stands on a level place”. It is a place that God has levelled for him, that is, a place from which God has removed all obstacles to stumbling, so that the believer is in no danger of wavering and stumbling (cf. Isa 40:4 ; Isa 42:16).

Then David speaks about how he will “bless” or “praise the LORD” in “the congregations” of God’s people. This is also the beauty of the meetings of the Christian church. We come together and together we can glorify God for the work that His Son has accomplished for each member of the church personally and for the church as a whole.

The psalm calls for a careful self-examination of our dedication to God. It corresponds to what the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians in connection with partaking of the Lord’s Supper: “But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1Cor 11:28). Those who take the Lord’s Supper seriously will examine themselves.

This self-examination, this “examining himself”, is necessary. Self-examination always has a result. It may be that we remember things that are not good; we can then get rid of them by confessing them (cf. Mt 5:23-24). It can also be that we are sincerely unaware of anything; then we can participate in the Lord’s Supper without fear.

Staying away from the Lord’s Supper or letting the Lord’s Supper pass us by is by no means the ideal solution. We would then let the obstacle or sin triumph over our love for the Lord Jesus. No, let us examine ourselves, get rid of the hindrance or the wrong and eat the bread in this way and drink the cup in this way, while we glorify Him for what He has done.