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Psalm 26

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 22, 1875

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 4.

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Psalm 26.

By A. S. Hutchins

The sentiments expressed in this short psalm contain evidence that the writer was in close communion with God. He closely connects cause and effect, showing that a life of integrity gives confidence in the Lord, and that obedience secures his blessing.
“Judge me, O Lord.” Why? “For I have walked in mine integrity; I have trusted also in the Lord.” Result: “Therefore I shall not slide.” “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” What gave David confidence to pray thus? The answer is found in his own words: “For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes; and I have walked in thy truth.” To walk in the truth, is to live agreeably to God’s revealed will. “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.” Gen. 5:24. Three hundred years’ walk with his Maker inspired great confidence in his heart; “for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”
Obedience to the truth, as it is made known unto us through revelation, is the only ground on which we can consistently base confidence in the promised blessings of Heaven. It was on the ground that Caleb had “another spirit,” and that he “followed” the Lord “fully,” that the promise was made: “Him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”
As the apostle Paul drew near the close of his eventful life of toil and suffering for his Master, his hope brightened into the strongest possible assurance of “a crown of righteousness” at the coming of the Redeemer, because he “had fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith.”
David, in looking forward to the final gathering of all the ungodly, the unredeemed, and lost of earth, to receive their retributive reward for a life of sin and rebellion, with sweet confidence in the atoning power of the Saviour’s meritorious blood, prays: “Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men.”
What inspired confidence in his heart to ask for this the greatest possible favor? It was the fact that he had tried to bring his life in conformity to the will of God. He did not fold his hands and sit down for grace alone to save him. He had learned that he had a part to act in his own salvation; for thus the Scriptures uniformly teach.
“Lord,” said he, “I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth. I will walk in mine integrity. My foot standeth in an even place. In the congregations will I bless the Lord.”
How blessed the attitude of the soul wrapt up in such heavenly love for the house of God, and the place where his honor dwelleth. He is borne away in the richest communion with his Saviour, his faith grasping the glories of the better world so soon to break upon the vision of the redeemed. Standing upon the platform of salvation, he stands in an “even place.” Dear brethren, let us stand upon the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and we, too, stand in “an even place.” Our steps need not slide. Let our hands be washed in innocency, then may we be able to say, “So will I compass thine altar, O Lord.”
A. S. HUTCHINS.