Psalm 101--I Will Walk with Integrity

Psalm 101
English Standard Version

I Will Walk with Integrity
A Psalm of David.
101 I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
    to you, O LORD, I will make music.
2 I will ponder the way that is blameless.
    Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
    within my house;
3 I 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.
4 A perverse heart shall be far from me;
    I will know nothing of evil.

5 Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
    I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
    I will not endure.

6 I 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.

7 No one who practices deceit
    shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
    shall continue before my eyes.

​8 Morning by morning I will destroy
    all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
    from the city of the LORD.

---

"integrity" and "blameless" are two of my favorite words in the Bible, and I often use them to tell young men what their goal in their spiritual lives should be.  I usually point to the prophet Daniel as an example as his private and public life were the same--he was the same person in the king's courts as he was when he was in his house praying towards Jerusalem with the windows open so that everyone could see him.  He was also blameless in that he conducted himself in a way where no one could bring any legitimate charges against him.  When came time for the people who were jealous of him to try to do harm to his reputation, they knew that even if they made something up, no one would believe it.  No, they would have to devise an attack that would make him guilty for a man of integrity who was blameless in his walk before God and men.  They would have to make a law that it was illegal for him to pray, for they knew in that case, he would obey God and not men.

This psalm of David focuses on those two topics as well- living with integrity and having a blameless walk before God and men.  This starts by being willing to praise the LORD in all places at all times in all circumstances.  We should always be ready, willing, and able to sing to the LORD and praise His Name for His steadfast love and justice.  Then our worship should have an effect on our lifestyle.  We must not only worship the LORD with our voices, but with our lives for Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  He also told those that were "lawless" to depart from Him because, "I never knew you."  The way in which we conduct ourselves shows whether we belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or if we belong to this world and its leader--the devil.

​David, like Job, then makes a covenant with his eyes to set nothing worthless or wicked before them.  The eyes are a gateway to the soul and there is something special about the eye gate that makes it hard for us, especially men, to forget the things which we look at.  While Jesus was using hyperbole, men understand why Jesus said, "If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell."  (Matthew 18:9 and Mark 9:47, also see Job 31:1).  We cannot have secret sins in our hearts and minds and be men of integrity and say we are walking in a way that is blameless, for He knows our thoughts and fantasies.  We must make all of that submissive to His will and Law.  David also said he would be careful of the company that he keeps because "bad company corrupts good character."  (See I Corinthians 15:33).  The ways of the wicked are not something to join in, nor are they something to desire.  David wants to stay far away from them so that he is not associated with those things.  We know the idea of "guilty by association" and how people will assume you are involved in the same activities as the people you hang around with.  That's what David is talking about here.  Choose your friends wisely so that they will make you sharp, not dull.  Hate the things that are perverse and wicked and stay far away from them so that no one associates you with those things.

​David's next point is one I was already talking about, but don't live in sin in secret and try to pretend to be holy and righteous in public.  God sees that and will judge you for the sin that you do in secret.  Jesus had to have this conversation with the disciples regarding the Pharisees many times.  He likened them to a cup that was clean on the outside but dirty on the inside, so that whatever was poured into the cup was contaminated.  He also compared them to whitewashed tomb that was full of death and decay.  We know from what the LORD told Samuel that men look at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.  The Lord sees what is done in secret (both good and bad) and you will be rewarded accordingly.  Nothing can be kept from the Lord because He sees and knows all--even the motives behind our actions.

Instead, God desires faithful men (there's another one of those rally important words).  Faithful men are those whom He is able to bless with the abundance of the Land, because they will be faithful to use the resources He has entrusted to them in accordance with His command.  The LORD makes us stewards of His resources and to those who are faithful with little, more will be entrusted to them, but for those who are unfaithful with what they have, it will be taken away from them and entrusted to another (see the Parables of the Minas and Talents--Minas were very small amounts of money, and talents were very large amounts of money.  The same parable was told twice to tell us to be faithful in the little things and the big things).

We already mentioned being careful to not associate with bad company, but David turns that on his head now and says that he needs to choose people to disciple him who are blameless in all their ways.  We must choose good role models for ourselves and practice the wisdom of Solomon, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."  David says that he desires and needs men like that in his life to minister to him.  It is hard to try to walk the blameless path of integrity, but it is a little easier to do it with other men who are taking the journey with you.  Then you can encourage one another, pray for one another and look out for one another as needed.  I can only speak to the importance of this for men--especially young men, but I'm sure the same is true for women who should be discipled by older women.  However, men must be discipled by other men who show them that godliness and manliness go hand-in-hand.  Too often the young men of today don't have fathers in their homes.  This makes this kind of ministry even more important when these young men lack wisdom, but they also need positive reinforcement for when they are on the right path, and correction when they are on the wrong path.  They will take this kind of council differently from a "father" than from their mother, and that is the way it is supposed to be.  If young men don't find father figures in their home and in the church, they will find them in the world and the world will be more than happy to mold these young men into their image and teach them to be criminals and selfish and the kind of men who abandon their children so that the cycle continues for generations on end.

Next, do not practice deceit for "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8). That is not to say that everyone who has ever told a lie will burn in the Lake of Fire, but all those whose identity is that they are liars cannot possibly belong to God because God is Truth.  It is the devil that is the father of lies and a liar from the beginning, and all those who choose to be liars like him will have the same end as him.  We are to be citizens of the kingdom of His marvelous light, not citizens of the kingdom of darkness.  Speak the truth and live the truth--that is, live in a way that is true to who God has made you to be.  That is in part what it means to have integrity.  Let there be no hypocrisy where you wear different faces in front of different people.  Be the same person who looks like Christ to all people in all places at all times.  That is our calling as ambassadors of the King and His Kingdom.

​As king, David also had to make a choice to not wink at evil that was allowed to reside in the Land.  He was to destroy and cut off the people from the Land that were living in rebellion to the LORD--those who practiced idolatry, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, prostitution, child sacrifice, homosexuality, fornication, those who were thieves and murderers, blasphemers, and those who broke the LORD's Sabbaths, made sacrifices at any other altar other than the LORD's altar, or refused to participate in the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (especially Passover) were to be cut off from the congregation and their lives were to be taken by capital punishment.  I'm sure I missed a few categories as there were a lot of them in the Old Testament, but all of these categories required willful sin and disregard for God and His Law.  Provision was made in the Law for those who accidently transgressed the Law, but it wasn't until Jesus' better sacrifice that our iniquities (our high-handed sins of rebellion) were dealt with on the cross.  He took the death penalty that we deserved for those sins (and if we are honest, we have all committed high-handed sins of rebellion against God at one time or another where He says, "Thou shalt," and we reply with "I will not.").  While we may not all be in positions to put evildoers to death, we are in a position each and every day to put sin to death in our own lives.  We must take up our cross daily--the cross is a symbol of death.  We must die to our flesh daily and day after day decide to sacrifice that "old man" on the cross of Christ so that we may live the new life--the life of integrity and blameless conduct and faithfulness--that the LORD has prepared for us--a life that so looks like the life of Christ that we get called "Christians" (like Christs).

Everyone should know you are a Christian before you open your mouth, and when you do open your mouth to share the gospel with people, they should not be surprised by what they hear--in fact, they should expect it.  God has ordained that the gospel be shared primarily with words as people need instructions in what it means to repent and believe, but it is the sweet aroma of our lives that makes people see that there is another way to live that is pleasing to God.  Let our words and deeds work in concert with one another to tell the world of who God is and what He has done, not just for us, but for them too.