MARCH 26, 2026 – DO JUSTICE TO ME

READ: Ps. 26:1–12: … I have trusted in the LORD … Examine my heart and my mind … I have walked in Your truth … I go about Your altar … Do not gather my soul with sinners … Be merciful to me …

David appeals to the LORD not to judge him as a wicked man. He wants to live by God’s grace, out of the forgiveness of sins granted to him. Precisely because he trusts in the LORD, he knows that he will not slip (v.1): God leads and preserves him in his way.

If the LORD examines his inner being, He will see that he directs himself to God’s mercy and His faithfulness (v.3). He does not want fellowship with people who live without God, nor with people who pretend to live with God. These will certainly include members of God’s people (vv.4–5).

David does not want to share in their ungodly ideas and deeds. He prefers to wash his hands—to become clean from what does not fit his service to the LORD. He wants to devote his life to the LORD: to thank Him, praise Him, honor Him, and testify of Him. For this he wants to be near the LORD, in His house (vv.6–8).

Now that David has testified to his devotion to the LORD in antithesis to those who are not devoted to the LORD, he develops his plea of verse 1. There he said, “Vindicate me, O LORD”; now he continues (vv.9–10): Do not take my soul away with sinners, with men of blood, who act shamefully and exploit others. Do not unite me at my death with these wicked people. But bring me where Your children are.

Again David pleads with the LORD and His grace (v.11). His desire is to continue meeting the LORD with all true believers in order to glorify Him, also after this life in eternity (v.12).

So we too may in faith and by grace know that if we love the LORD sincerely, our soul will not remain with the wicked who will one day undergo God’s judgment. We may look forward to being added to the multitude that cannot be numbered and that will glorify God forever.

How can your heart become “strong”?
Singing: Ps. 26:4,6,7