#DailyDevotion Good Stuff In, Good Fruit Out. Trash In, Trash Out
Psalm 101 I will sing of kindness and justice and make music to You, O LORD.
Kindness here is chesed in Hebrew. It is often translated steadfast love. It is a covenantal love based on God’s promise. Mispat is the Hebrew for justice. It is of these two things the psalmist will sing and make music to the LORD. These two things establish the covenant, the relationship between the LORD and His people. It is an amazing grace the LORD called people from out of the world to establish a covenant with them and reveal His name, His character and His ways. For us it is also an amazing grace the LORD Jesus Christ revealed Himself to us and the Father’s heart.
2I want to understand the perfect way. O when will You come to me?
Those who trust the LORD and love Him will desire to know the LORD and His ways. If you love someone you want to know all about them. You want to do things that please the people who we love. The psalmist desires the LORD would come to Him. He is looking to be in the presence of the LORD through the priest of the prophets who bring God’s word to him. Do we desire for the LORD to come to us in word and sacrament?
I will live with a pure heart in my own home. 3I will not put anything wicked before my eyes. I hate what the unfaithful do; I want no part of it. 4I will stay away from crooked thoughts. I will not be friendly with evil. 5I’ll silence anyone who secretly slanders his neighbor; I won’t put up with anyone who looks proud and is conceited.
So there are positive statements and negative things here. So he resolves himself to live with a pure heart in his home. That is a positive thing. Would that we would commit ourselves to live a pure heart at home and elsewhere. Then he proceeds to describe living a pure life in a negative way. He doesn’t let wickedness come before his eyes, or let crooked thoughts remain with him. He refuses to be friendly with evil. He corrects those who break the eighth commandment. He doesn’t put up with the proud and conceited.
We should follow suit. We should commit ourselves to avoiding evil and wickedness in our lives. As the old saying says, “Trash in, trash come out. Good stuff in, good fruit.” If you wonder why you have continual problems falling into evil ways, ask yourself, “Am I avoiding evil and wickedness in my daily life?” Do you call evil evil? Do you let people know, especially fellow Christians, who are engaging in wickedness to stop? Put evil and wickedness out of your life and fill it with the ways of the LORD, with His word and practice it.
6I look for the faithful people in the land, so they may live with me. When anyone lives a pure life, he may serve me; 7but no one who does deceitful things shall live in my home; no one who tells lies can stay with me. 8Every morning I’ll destroy all the wicked in the land, to purge the LORD’s city of all who do wrong.
Bad company corrupts good character. Good character builds us up. So the psalmist devotes himself to hang with faithful people, who live pure lives. He gets rid of people in his life who are deceitful. Of course on the Last Day, our King, our LORD Jesus Christ will rid the world of all wickedness and evil. We should practice that in our lives. Not that we should not call people to repent and accept them when they do. Most especially should we avoid those who call themselves Christians who live unrepentant lives, lest they deceive us to follow in their ways.
Heavenly Father, grant us hearts that desire only to live in Your life and ways and purge our lives of things that are contrary to Your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.