Psalms 101:2, commentary and pictures

David's vow is to live wisely and blamelessly and to keep a sincere and upright heart inside his own home. That vow belongs to all fathers and mothers who guard the influences of the home, for they are to teach their children the way of the Lord by how husband and wife treat each other and by ruling the household in love, justice, prayer, and obedience to God's law. In God's sight a person is what he is in his family, so this walk is done under God's watchful eye with humble dependence on His help and strength. It is the language of the truly penitent, who keep God's will prominent, turn from every evil way, and serve Him with the whole heart to the end. Jesus Himself lived this song at His daily labor, answering criticism and quarreling not by argument but by singing, until those around Him caught the strain and joined in praise.

Vow for the Home

David's vow to conduct himself with wisdom in a blameless course and to walk inside his own house with a whole heart is to be the vow of everyone entrusted with guarding the influences of the home. It is the resolve fathers and mothers are to make for a successful home life, choosing to live wisely and without blame and to maintain an upright heart within the household. That resolve calls for careful study of home life, for the home is a school where children are to be trained for the higher school, and in that training parents have been given a wonderful work to do. Acting wisely and living with integrity in one's own house means a sincere, upright character shown in how husband and wife treat each other, so that their example teaches their children respect and the way of the Lord.

A father walks within his own house with a whole heart by cultivating home religion and helping his children keep the way of the Lord, making faithful spiritual leadership in the family part of his duty, especially when the family needs him. Walking before children in a blameless course is done with the knowledge that God's eye is ever upon the home, for in God's sight a man is just what he is in his family, and the power of godliness is seen in daily life. Fathers and mothers keep the way of the Lord by making their households houses of prayer, by making the law of God the rule of life from which there can be no sinless turning aside, and by giving the principles of holiness first place in life, as Abraham did through strict regard for God's word, home religion, and ruling his household in love and justice and the fear of God.

The instruction is simple and is for every family solemnly seeking the Lord and for fathers and mothers awake to their individual responsibility, calling for diligent work with no time to be squandered foolishly in order to win heaven and gain eternal life. Living wisely and with integrity in the home follows the perfect standard of God's law, to which each member of a household should be able to commit as parents teach God's law so that the household is shaped by obedience to it.

Blameless Walk Before God

To walk within the household with a perfect heart is to follow God's rules without turning aside, keeping His will prominent and permanent in life. It is the language of the truly penitent, expressing the desire to walk before God with a perfect heart, kept from every evil way, with the Lord always set before the eyes. It means serving Him without reserve and keeping His law and statutes with the whole heart even to the end.

This penitent walk is joined with humble acknowledgment that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, and with trust in the God who tries the heart and delights in uprightness. David prayed continually for God's help to live wisely and to walk before Him in this perfect way. The same words become a prayer that the one who hears them will walk wisely in a perfect way, with help from the Lord's Spirit.

To walk in this way is to walk humbly before God in a perfect way under His watchful care, for He hears and sees everything said and done. God gives strength to all who choose this humble, blameless walk, and the living God becomes the joy and rejoicing of their soul. Walking wisely in a perfect way is wisdom given in answer to prayer for those doing God's work, urgently needed now when watching unto prayer is required because sin has cast a dark shadow over the earth and difficulties constantly meet workers. Hope is to be fixed in God because He is light and the fullness of light, who guides through darkening clouds by His promises.

Walking in a perfect way means living with a character shaped by sacred truth as consistent, meek, teachable, firm, and cheerful, while remaining sober and watchful in prayer, so that professed truth continually elevates, ennobles, and refines the person. Faithfulness and integrity must mark the character, for Jesus sang this psalm of David while laboring at His daily trade when companions criticized His particular exactness as unnecessary and wasteful of time. He answered criticism with singing instead of arguing, and He sang it when a quarrel arose instead of stopping to justify His course. The spirit of that song affected the hearts of those with Him so that almost before they realized it they caught the strain and joined Him in singing, forgetting differences of opinion and angry words and uniting in a hymn of praise. Pursuing the same course hides believers in Christ and makes them partakers of the divine nature.