Here, David’s life signature tune continues. God is faithful to those who are faithful to him (v 26) – whatever our situation, whoever we are with. 

I remember hearing once of a pastor, who in her spiritual care of others was exemplary, known to be sincere in her faith and gracious in her relationships. She was also chair of trustees of a significant charity. In this context too, her values and conduct were gracious. She remained open-hearted but was able to manage the charity in an efficient and business-like manner. In other words, she was authentic. Is such faithful consistency evident in our own lives too (vs 21–25)?

Remember the young David, in whom God saw a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 16:7; Acts 13:22)? According to verses 25 and 26, when we live our lives before him as faithful, authentic and pure-hearted people (v 27), then he, in turn, meets us in the same spirit. But notice, where there is hypocrisy or guile, he is not taken in and we will find it hard to connect with him (vs 27,28). 
 

‘She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”’¹  

David understood clearly here, at the beginning of his reign, that the unchanging God supported him, brought him through difficulty, saw and knew him. It wasn’t until later that he became more aware of his own potential for sin, and the reality of God’s forgiveness. Unlike his claim to righteousness in today’s passage (v 21), in Psalm 103:10 (continuing the repentance seen in Psalms 32 and 51) he proclaimed that God ‘does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities’. David’s confidence in God never changed but his confidence in himself did! In today’s chapter, he believed he had followed and obeyed God in every way, and would be honoured for it. He happily proclaimed that God treats everyone according to their ‘righteousness’ (vs 21,25) – fully trusting that he was righteous and would be treated well.

I can empathise with David! As a young Christian whose belief in my own faith and faithfulness was strong, I would probably have been happy to recite this psalm with confidence. In later years I struggle, as I think David too would have done, with some of the words here. However, God has not changed – he is still our ‘lamp’ who turns our ‘darkness into light’ (v 29). The difference for Christians is that we can confidently speak of God’s faithfulness to the faithful, not because of any righteousness of our own but because of the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been accounted to us. Paul explains clearly in Romans 3 and elsewhere that, although all (including David!) have sinned, ‘righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe’.² So, the strong ‘Wow’ that comes out so clearly from David here can still be our ‘Wow’, as forgiven sinners. 

Read this passage aloud, speaking loudly when it speaks of God and quietly when it proclaims the writer’s innocence. Then thank God for the righteousness that we have in Christ. 
 

¹ Gen 16:13  ² Rom 3:22