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.

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