Mission statements are a feature of contemporary corporate life. In a few sentences, companies articulate the reason for their existence and their business vision. They are also increasingly part of the job recruitment process. Candidates are asked to write their own mission statements, expressing their own sense of vision and purpose. 

This psalm belongs to a sub-category called the ‘royal psalms’, where the voice belongs to the king in Jerusalem. In it he declares his own mission statement: the values and behaviours he intends to pursue as king. Verse 2 is particularly fascinating: ‘I will be careful to lead a blameless life’. After asserting this intention, he pleads with God to come to him. Brueggemann and Bellinger,* in their commentary on the psalms, call this an act of insistent hope. The king is looking to God to help with delivery of his promises to be a man of integrity. It is said that the famous eighteenth-century Welsh preacher, Christmas Evans, had a similar practice. While travelling and praying on horseback, he would occasionally dismount and build a pile of rocks to show that God had come to him and given him a promise. The rocks were a sign of that agreement.

*W Brueggemann and W Bellinger, Psalms: New Cambridge Bible Commentary, Cambridge University Press, 2014

‘...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve’.¹ Express your response to this choice in a prayer of dedication.

We could call this psalm ‘the politician’s prayer’! It is almost certainly King David’s expression of his longing for integrity in his personal and political life. If he is to rule the nation well, both he and his team (his ‘house’, v 2) must carry themselves with honesty and trustworthiness. David has significant authority in the nation (v 8), but we should not limit this prayer to great leaders. More widely, it expresses a concern for a life that reflects the love and justice of God. That’s where David starts, with God and his desire to be like him in all his interactions. If this is to happen, he needs God to ‘come to me’ (v 2), to convey his presence and grace. In this desire, we see the well-balanced juxtaposition of the psalms. Psalm 100 was all about uninhibited joy in God. That’s no world-renouncing, self-indulgent experience. It must be lived out in the context of a ‘blameless’ life (v 2), even in the complicated area of national government.

Part of being ‘blameless’ before God is to renounce evil. David will choose carefully what he approves of and what he hates. We can never be casual about who we listen to or whose company we keep. Politics is rife with intrigue, vilification of others and self-promotion, although none of these are restricted to the political world! They are all things David will call out and refuse to tolerate. Instead, he will promote and draw on those who are faithful and servant-hearted. These are high standards. Sadly, as we look at the life of David, we know that he did not always live by them. That makes us especially grateful to one of David’s ‘house’ (his dynasty) who was blameless, without spot or blemish, who rules us with unadulterated love and justice.

Can you use this psalm to pray for your nation’s leaders and also for all the areas in which you have the opportunity to exercise leadership?

¹ Josh 24:15