#832 Talking About a Resolution

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. Psalm 101 ESV

A Psalm of David that some have called a Psalm of Pious Resolution.

I will sing of steadfast love and justice - God is both merciful and just for He is perfect in all His rulings. Without Messiah God could not be just in His mercy, for what is it to be against sin if we are unwilling to confront it? Every breath is mercy, bought by the Word of God, knowing that what He said He would bring to pass. He chose from eternity those whom He would purchase and made a plan to rescue them, Christ fulfilled that plan and the Holy Spirit convicts men of the sin which made such redemption necessary. God's Holiness and justice are demonstrated in the cross, His love and mercy are also there made known. We should sing, it is beyond marvelous how much God hates sin, yet while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

I will ponder the way that is blameless - God had given the law unto kings  that they could meditate upon, to do justice and walk in truth. Men must spend much time considering these things, especially those that would lead. No matter how drunk you become on power, flattery and title, the only estimation of yourself that will matter is the one that comes from God. Christ has been made king above all kings, and we should not forget this at work, home or church. Any pastor that has not seen the pulpit as a call to holiness, to resolved and premeditated loyalty to God and His word, that man has deceived himself. God is not the author of such a call. 

- David longed for a more special and effectual visitation from the Lord before he began his reign. If God be with us we shall neither err in judgment nor transgress in character; his presence brings us both wisdom and holiness; away from God we are away from safety. Good men are so sensible of infirmity that they cry for help from God, so full of prayer that they cry at all seasons, so intense in their desires that they cry with sighs and groanings which cannot be uttered, saying, "O when wilt thou come unto me?" I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Piety must begin at home. Our first duties are those within our own abode. We must have a perfect heart at home, or we cannot keep a perfect way abroad. Notice that these words are a part of a song, and that there is no music like the harmony of a gracious life, no psalm so sweet as the daily practice of holiness. Reader, how fares it with your family? Do you sing in the choir and sin in the chamber Are you a saint abroad and a devil at home? For shame! What we are at home, that we are indeed. He cannot be a good king whose palace is the haunt of vice, nor he a true saint whose habitation is a scene of strife, nor he a faithful minister whose household dreads his appearance at the fireside. - C. H. Spurgeon

…8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, His prisoner. Instead, join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our own works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time eternal. 10 And now He has revealed this grace through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel,… 2 Timothy 1: 8-10

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless - What will you resolve to do about the things which God hates? Will others, the culture, family, king or business decide for you, if so, it is to them that you belong. I have said a thousand times how much I hate the saying, "it's just business", but I say I hate it so much for fear that I myself may fall into it. Can I or any man justify an action that God has so plainly denounced? Is this humor before the Lord, is this proper for me to look at? Can the truth really be stretched or did I lie? Does the end justify the means? Your idols will always tempt you to down play the simple truths of God. I did this, but look, I became wealthy. I said this, but look, everyone laughed. I window shopped, but I did not steal, yet.

1 The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases. 2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart. 3 To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.… Proverbs 21: 1-3

I hate the work of those who fall away - The truest sign of repentance is choosing to stay upon the path of righteousness, it is the turning away from sin, not just in the acknowledgment of it, but purposing in our hearts to give it not even a moments rest therein. Rarely, if ever, is anyone deceived in such things solely by the acts or words of another. No, we consent, and we do so in defiance of the Words of the living God. Those that know what God says and the way in which He says to walk, fall to such deceit because they first deceive themselves. It is unbelief, it is arrogance, to think that God is like men in that He would have this all written down without intent or purpose, to pick and choose as we will, rather than know it as God's will. 

…7 Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. 8“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. 9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.… Isaiah 55: 7-9

Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy - David had to know much of this, for Saul and others treated him in opposite fashion to the character he showed them and the anointing that God had placed upon him. Why should a man ever have to defend his good name, if it is good then there should never be a reason for defense, unless it is the words of one whose name should be taken away from them. This is a common thing, that we go around and speculate upon the thoughts and hearts of others. We lower them in the eyes of others in order to lift ourselves up, to satisfy our envy and self esteem.