#DailyDevotion Can We Sing Confidently With David?
Psa 26:8 O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.
Psa 26:1-2 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. (2) Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
Psa 26:6-7 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, (7) proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
The introit for this last Sunday begins with verse eight, “I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” Now when David writes this the immediate context is the tabernacle of the Lord where there is the Ark of the Covenant. God had promised to be there with and for his people with his name. Now those who love the Lord and desire him should of course love the place where the Lord God, Jesus Christ, promise to be with and for his people. Now where is that? Jesus tells us, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of you.” So the Christian loves to gather with other Christians so they may have that promised presence. We note when Jesus says this, it is for the purposes of forgiving and retaining sins, mainly to forgive sins of those who are repentant. Jesus also promises to be with us in his word that is read and preached and with us with his body and blood given in the sacrament of the altar.
Now the theme of the week has been having a heart united with the Lord’s, a heart that desires the Lorda nd wants to do the will of the Lord. So David approaches the Lord with his petition of vindication. He presents his case to the Lord saying he has trusted in the Lord without wavering and in his integrity. It is a mighty bold move for David. Yet, if he is presenting himself as one who trusts in the Lord accompanied with the sacrifices prescribed in the Old Testament, he could say this. If he has harmed anyone, he has made restitution. If he has sinned, he has offered up the appropriate sacrifices. Jesus has given us the way to have a clear conscience before God through his sacrifice on the cross. Trusting in that sacrifice and performing the fruits that follow helps us to make the same claim as David.
David ask the Lord to prove and try his heart and his mind. In the Hebrew it is the kidneys (reins) and heart both are taken figuratively. The reins are the seat of our emotions and the heart is the center of being, mind, conscience, the seat of thoughts, courage, and soul. Indeed, the one who trusts in the Lord can do this for we as Christians know our inner man is perfect with Christ. His thoughts and desires are those of the Lord yet we struggle with the flesh which opposes the Spirit of God within us. But our confidence is in the Lord.
We gather together then as those who have received the Lord’s gifts and with David proclaiming thanksgiving for all the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and telling all his wondrous deeds. We do this in creed and in songs and hymns. We do this to build one another up in the faith and confidence of the Lord. We can do all this confidently knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled this Psalm for us in his life and fulfills it for us in our lives as we gather around his name, in his house with his holy people. He fulfills it for us in our innermost man, in our heart of hearts where he has promised to dwell with his Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, grant that with David through your Son Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we may love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells that inwardly our hearts may be that place now and into eternity. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.