One who practices deceit shall not dwell in my house

Psalm 101 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Psalmist’s Profession of Uprightness. A Psalm of David.

I will sing of mercy and justice;
To You, Lord, I will sing praises.
² I will carefully attend to the blameless way.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
³ I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
⁴ A perverse heart shall leave me;
I will know no evil.
⁵ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
I will not endure one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart.

⁶ My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
One who walks in a blameless way is one who will serve me.
⁷ One who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
One who speaks lies shall not maintain his position before me.
⁸ Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to eliminate from the city of the Lord all those who do injustice.

In 1 Samuel 13:14, God speaking to Saul about David, said: “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”  When we read the words of David then, we read the words of one who is after the heart of God. In Psalm 101 David says: I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, Lord, I will sing praises. I will carefully attend to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.  It is one thing to act with integrity when others can see, but true integrity is to act properly even when no one else knows or can see. That is the kind of integrity God has. He is just in all things and at all times. We though, recognizing that He is just, should be thankful and praise Him for His mercy. We don’t get what we deserve for our sin, but rather because of His mercy toward us, Christ died so that we would be forgiven and redeemed from our sin. In John 14:6 Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”  We need to carefully walk in Him, in the blameless way of Christ. 

David says: I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall leave me; I will know no evil. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; I will not endure one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart. My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me.  In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus says: “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”  We become more like what we look at the most. If we fill our eyes with worthless or worse yet, with evil and darkness, we will ourselves become darkened. Like Jesus, we are to love sinners, but like David we should hate the works of sin. Romans 12:9 says: Love must be free of hypocrisy. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. Today, in our society, there are many who make no secret of slandering others. It has become acceptable to make and repeat unfounded claims against others. These lies can affect the reputation of others. We are not in a position to destroy other people, but it is the reputation of liars and slanderers that should be destroyed. They will know the justice of God.

Remembering that David is a man after God’s heart, He says: One who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; One who speaks lies shall not maintain his position before me. Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, So as to eliminate from the city of the Lord all those who do injustice.  Jesus taught us to pray saying: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  David’s heart was to establish the principles of heaven on earth. That too should be our heart. We cannot abide with and in darkness and dwell in the house of the Lord. In Revelation 21:6-8 the Lord says: “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”    Revelation 22:12-15 says: “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, like David, may I be after Your heart. May I seek to establish Your ways and Your principles in my life. May I walk in the blameless way of Christ and may I dwell and abide with You.  May Your kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.