When God had granted David victory over his enemies and peace, David penned this beautiful psalm, one from which songwriters still borrow lyrics and themes today. As he is singing of God’s faithfulness, David makes a statement that caught me off-guard. He says:
“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in his sight.”
I want to say, “Ahem, pardon me, David, I don’t mean to bring up a sore subject, but what about the whole thing with Bathsheba and Uriah? And don’t forget about how you failed to uphold God’s standards when Amnon raped your daughter. According to the cleanness of YOUR hands? Yeah, not so much.”
But God reminds me that because of His great love for us, He keeps no record of our wrongs. When we turn to Him in faith, He doesn’t throw our sins in our face (as we are apt to do to one another). He doesn't tell us how much we don’t deserve His grace and blessings! NO! Instead, we are cleansed from sin until it is as if we had never turned from Him in the first place.
God’s faithfulness is, thankfully, not based on our merit, but is based on His. But once He has washed us clean, we can sing, like David, that "The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight" because, IN HIS SIGHT, we are made perfectly clean, without spot or blemish, just like His Son.
“The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in his sight.”
I want to say, “Ahem, pardon me, David, I don’t mean to bring up a sore subject, but what about the whole thing with Bathsheba and Uriah? And don’t forget about how you failed to uphold God’s standards when Amnon raped your daughter. According to the cleanness of YOUR hands? Yeah, not so much.”
But God reminds me that because of His great love for us, He keeps no record of our wrongs. When we turn to Him in faith, He doesn’t throw our sins in our face (as we are apt to do to one another). He doesn't tell us how much we don’t deserve His grace and blessings! NO! Instead, we are cleansed from sin until it is as if we had never turned from Him in the first place.
God’s faithfulness is, thankfully, not based on our merit, but is based on His. But once He has washed us clean, we can sing, like David, that "The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight" because, IN HIS SIGHT, we are made perfectly clean, without spot or blemish, just like His Son.
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