Taking The Stand In Your Own Defense

Psalm 26:1-5

A psalm of David.

1Declare me innocent, O LORD,

for I have acted with integrity;

I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

2Put me on trial, LORD, and cross-examine me.

Test my motives and affections.

3For I am constantly aware of your unfailing love,

and I have lived according to your truth.

4I do not spend time with liars

or go along with hypocrites.

5I hate the gatherings of those who do evil,

and I refuse to join in with the wicked.

George Whitefield, newly ordained to the ministry and only twenty-five years old, was hauled before a clerical tribunal for the grievous offense of preaching the gospel outdoors. He had preached to a group of about two hundred coal miners in a field. The young Oxford-trained cleric was also charged with being an “enthusiast” and a Methodist.

To these charges Whitefield replied, “Every Christian must be an ‘enthusiast’ [which means ‘to have God in you’]. You think that I am going to make you methodically mad. So you may breathe out your invectives against me, yet Christ knows all; he takes notice of it, and I shall leave it to him to plead my cause.” Whitefield must have felt like David did in this psalm (verses 1-2).

We should note that this psalm seems to connect with the previous psalm, where David prays for integrity and declares his trust in the Lord. Here David declares his integrity (verse 1) and acknowledges God’s unfailing love (verse 3). So the psalmist recognized that his integrity was dependent upon God’s mercy.

The same is true for us. When our trust in the Lord is solid, our integrity is also solid. Failing to trust in the Lord will only lead us to take ethical shortcuts to achieve our goals.

Check the areas where you might be tempted to take some ethical shortcuts. Then ask the Lord to help you trust him in those circumstances.

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;

Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.

See if there be some wicked way in me;

Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.

J. EDWIN ORR

Bible Networking

For a further description of the people described in verse 4, read Proverbs 6:12-14. For more on the psalmist’s relationship with such people, see Psalm 1:1.

Notable Quotable

“Two things will always be found together—love of God and recoil from sin. There cannot be attachment without detachment.”

W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE