Clear my name, God;
    I’ve kept an honest shop.
I’ve thrown in my lot with you, God, and
    I’m not budging.

2 Examine me, God, from head to foot,
    order your battery of tests.
Make sure I’m fit
    inside and out

3 So I never lose
    sight of your love,
But keep in step with you,
    never missing a beat.

4-5 I don’t hang out with tricksters,
    I don’t pal around with thugs;
I hate that pack of gangsters,
    I don’t deal with double-dealers.

6-7 I scrub my hands with purest soap,
    then join hands with the others in the great circle,
    dancing around your altar, God,
Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs,
    telling God-stories.

8-10 God, I love living with you;
    your house glows with your glory.
When it’s time for spring cleaning,
    don’t sweep me out with the quacks and crooks,
Men with bags of dirty tricks,
    women with purses stuffed with bribe-money.

11-12 You know I’ve been aboveboard with you;
    now be aboveboard with me.
I’m on the level with you, God;
    I bless you every chance I get. The Message

Lord, I love the house where you live,
    the place where your glory dwells (v.8 NIVUK).

Years ago, Selwyn Hughes, in ‘Every Day with Jesus’, told the story of an elderly gentleman who had moved into a retirement home. One day, a visitor asked him, ‘What’s it like to live in an old folks’ home?’ He replied, ‘I don’t live in an old folks home, I live in God!’

How’s that for perspective?

For David also, the Lord was the greatest reality of his life; and his life in God was, among other things, one of vindication. Whatever people said (falsely) about him, in God he knew protection.

God was real to David, and he so enjoyed his life in God. Can you say the same?

Once, a friend told me about a new pastor who had come to his church. Apparently, this lovely man said, ”I so enjoy my salvation.”

If David exemplified the above sentiment, others have entered into it.

May we each know what it is to enjoy being enveloped in the reality of God, who is our true home.