Songs of Prayer

Psalm 26

Vindicate me, Lord, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered. Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness. I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associated with hypocrites. I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked. I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds. Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with those who are bloodthirsty, in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes. I lead a blameless life; deliver me and be merciful to me. My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.

As a teenager and young adult I struggled with FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out. What this means is that I was always afraid that something cool and story-worthy would happen in my friend group while I wasn’t around. I wanted to always be a part of the action. And so, I would be the last to leave an event, party, or gathering; I made sure to get parttime jobs where most of my friends worked; and I would adjust my schedule to ensure that I didn’t miss whatever thing was happening that might make for a cool story the next day. I wanted to be where the action was – more than that, I wanted to be in the center of it.

To be completely honest, older though I am now, I still feel this need rise up every now and again.

This FOMO however, did eventually come into conflict with the way God was changing my life when I really allowed his hold on me to have an impact. I had a choice to make: hangout with friends who I knew where doing and saying things that I should no longer be doing and saying – because I didn’t want to miss out on being part of a cool story; OR sacrifice my need to be a part of the “cool” because I was now trying to be an active part of God’s plan for the world and my life in it.

I had to decide whose opinion mattered more: my own – really it was the opinion of my friends that mattered more and I was just deceiving myself to think it was some sort of self-determination; or the opinion of God regarding who I am. For me, FOMO was just an outworking of an idea about life rooted in where I might find meaning.

As God was changing my life I had to learn new ways of understanding meaning, purpose, and identity.

That is what David is doing in Psalm 26: show us what true independence looks like as we come to learn that God’s opinion and provision of meaning for us as image-bearers and lavishly loved covenant children determines who we are and how we function in this life.

Notice that David is being charged with corruption, with surrounding himself with evil people, and liars. I can easily imagine how David might have experienced these rumors going around while in his conflict with Saul as they struggle for the throne of Israel. Saul was king, but God removed his blessing from him and anointed David as the new king in a secret ceremony through Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 15 & 16). During the ensuing power struggle it is not hard to imagine how the Saul, the established power, might spread lies and untruths about David in an attempt to sway popular opinion.

This is what David is reacting against when he says he is “blameless;” clearly he doesn’t mean sinless because in verse 11 he asks for deliverance (salvation) and mercy. Instead, he means he is without blame in the false charges of corruption, evil associations, and lying.

The real power of David’s plea is in who it is directed to: he doesn’t call out to his friends to defend him, he doesn’t challenge his enemies to change their minds, and he doesn’t return in kind the sorts of charges Saul might make; instead, he appeals to God as judge. David recognizes that it is God’s opinion of him that matters more – that it is ultimately only God’s opinion that matters. This is what Tim Keller calls “the secret of true independence.”[1] It is the same point that the apostle Paul makes in the New Testament letter to the Galatians. In this letter Paul is required to challenge the Galatians who are swayed by other personalities and ideas. He writes, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1: 10) Whose opinion matters more to you? That’s the question. Who gets to define you? Again, for Paul – and all of us as Christiains – the tradition markers of success and status don’t matter any more, instead what matters is “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” In fact, those previous markers – those things we might have FOMO about – are revealed to be meaningless: “I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 2: 8)

Paul knows who the real judge is – and the opinions of others don’t matter in comparison (cf. 1 Cor. 4:4).

And yet, like David, we need to constantly return to the place that this truth is proclaimed for we are a fickle people and easily slide out of this truth. David recalls the tabernacle and tent of meeting at Shiloh (the ark of the covenant didn’t come to Jerusalem until the reign of David, and the temple there wasn’t built until after). David recalls the dwelling place of God’s glory.

We too, have seen his glory – “the glory of the One and Only Son who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” We too have seen this glory dwelling among us in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14). In those times and places that challenge our identity, when we experience being defined by our own FOMO’s (or whatever it is that you are tempted to define yourself by, who ever it is that you are tempted to be defined by) we must fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2) – he is the level ground on which we stand; he is the firm foundation of our faith. And he gives us a people – a new family, his bride – with whom we can praise the Lord.

And that is something I really don’t want to miss out on.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to fix my eyes on you so that it is only your opinion of me that matters. Forgive me for when I let the opinions of others – or my fears of others – determine my life. So fill me with your Holy Spirit that I can live unafraid and boldly proclaim your goodness in the assembly! Amen.

[1] Keller, The Songs of Jesus, 47.