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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.

¹ In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.

² I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Saviour,
    and my hope is in you all day long.
⁶ Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
    for you, Lord, are good.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
¹⁰ All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
¹¹ For the sake of your name, Lord,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹² Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
¹³ They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The Lord confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever on the Lord,
    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
¹⁹ See how numerous are my enemies
    and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰ Guard my life and rescue me;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, Lord, is in you.

²² Deliver Israel, O God,
    from all their troubles!

A central thrust in this psalm is that God guides His own. I am drawn to this today because I feel in need of His direction. How about you?

We don’t have to be perfect for God to guide us. What a relief! Although in some psalms David pleads his integrity in the teeth of false accusations being made about him, he always knows that he is a sinner. Here he freely confesses that he is.

”Forgive my bad life;
It’s been a very bad life.” Verse 11 ‘The Message’

Yet he knows that God ”instructs sinners in his ways” (8), ‘Humble’ sinners (9) who ‘fear’ the Lord (12,14) and keep their eyes fixed on God (15) can know His guidance.

We should note also that God’s guidance will never contradict His revealed ”truth” (5).

I think verse 14 is just beautful. This is how vv.14,15 read in ‘The Message’:

”God-friendship is for God-worshipers;
They are the ones he confides in.

If I keep my eyes on God,
I won’t trip over my own feet.”

Verse 12 can read ”in the ways he chooses.” But of course, the ways we ”should choose” are ”the ways He chooses for us.”

Prayer:

‘I dare not choose my lot;
  I would not if I might:
Choose Thou for me, my God,
  So shall I walk aright.

Not mine, not mine the choice,
  In things both great and small;
Be Thou my guide, my strength,
  My wisdom and my all.’ (Two verses from the hymn, ‘Thy way, not mine, O Lord’ by Horatius Bonar)