The Good and Godly King


Psalm 101
A Psalm of David.
1I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music.
2I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
3I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
4A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.
5Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.
6I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.
7No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.
8Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Here we have another psalm attributed to King David. Because we know David’s entire story, some of these words do not ring true of his life and reign. While we don’t know when in his life this was written, we do that he did not live up to the standards set in this song. He sinned with Bathsheba, committing adultery and having her husband killed. So while the words of the psalm champion integrity, we know that David failed. One can only assume he wrote these words before those tragic events. But – even had David written this psalm after his affair with Bathsheba, they are still true. These are character traits worth striving for and living to achieve. In fact, had David written this song after his very public sin, we can be amazed at the fact that he knows he is forgiven and able to start again.

David is one of the ancient ancestors of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is known as the Son of David and it is upon David's eternal throne that Jesus now sits, as Ruler of all the Universe forever. So even though David fails miserably to live up to standards discussed in this psalm, Jesus most certainly succeeds. And for that we make music to His name and sing His praises.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more