A Level Standing in a Crooked World Text: Psalm 26:1-3
Introduction: The Crisis of Integrity
We live in an age that has traded integrity for authenticity. The great virtue of our time is to be "true to yourself," which is a flimsy, modern euphemism for being a slave to your passions. Authenticity, as the world defines it, means that if you feel like a scoundrel, the most virtuous thing you can do is act like one, so long as you admit it. This is not a virtue; it is a surrender. It is the hollowed out core of a civilization that has forgotten what it means for a man to be whole, to be integrated, to be a man of his word because he serves the God who is the Word.
Into this festival of fragmentation, Psalm 26 lands like a thunderclap. David's prayer is not the squishy, therapeutic, self-deprecating monologue we have come to expect from modern piety. This is a bold, legal, and almost audacious appeal to the highest court in the universe. David is not navel-gazing; he is standing his ground and calling on God to witness it. He is asking for justice, not on the basis of some abstract principle, but on the basis of his life, his walk, his integrity.
This kind of prayer makes modern Christians nervous. We have been so well-trained in the doctrine of our own depravity, which is a good thing, that we have forgotten that grace is supposed to do something. We have become experts at confessing our sin but amateurs at walking in righteousness. We are quick to say, "I am a sinner," but slow to say, with David, "I have walked in my integrity." But if our faith is genuine, it must produce a genuine life. If the root is good, the fruit must be good. This psalm teaches us that the goal of the Christian life is not a perpetual state of spiritual hand-wringing, but rather a robust, confident, and wholehearted walk with God. It is not about achieving sinless perfection, but it is absolutely about a covenantal orientation. It is about having a life that is all of a piece, a life that can stand up to scrutiny, because it is founded on the unshakable character of God Himself.
The Text
Give justice to me, O Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in Yahweh; I will not waver.
Test me, O Yahweh, and try me;
Refine my mind and my heart.
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have walked in Your truth.
(Psalm 26:1-3 LSB)
The Audacious Appeal (v. 1)
We begin with David's startling courtroom plea:
"Give justice to me, O Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity, And I have trusted in Yahweh; I will not waver." (Psalm 26:1)
The first phrase, "Give justice to me," or "Vindicate me," sets the scene. This is a legal proceeding. David has been slandered, falsely accused, or in some way wronged. He is not coming to God primarily as a patient seeking therapy, but as a litigant seeking a verdict. He is appealing to God as the righteous judge. And notice the grounds of his appeal: "for I have walked in my integrity."
The word for integrity here is tom. It means completeness, soundness, wholeness. It describes a life that is not divided against itself. This is not, and we must be absolutely clear on this, a claim to sinless perfection. David, the author of Psalm 51, knew better than anyone that he was a sinner. Rather, this is a claim about the fundamental trajectory and orientation of his life. He is saying that his life is not a hypocritical performance. His heart, his words, and his actions are aligned in one direction: toward God. He is not double-minded. He is not trying to serve God and Mammon. His life is all of a piece.
This integrity is not the ground of his salvation, but it is the evidence of it. And this is where we must recover our biblical nerve. Grace is not a get-out-of-jail-free card that leaves the prisoner unchanged. Grace regenerates, and a regenerated man begins to walk. David then tells us the source of this walk: "And I have trusted in Yahweh." Integrity does not grow in the soil of self-reliance. It is the fruit of trust. A man who trusts in himself will be a man of a thousand compromises, because his foundation is always shifting. But a man who trusts in the unchanging, covenant-keeping God of Israel has a foundation outside of himself. This is why he can say, "I will not waver." His stability is not a matter of personal grit, but of divine gravity. He is anchored to the Rock.
The Open-Book Examination (v. 2)
If verse one sounds arrogant to you, verse two is the corrective. It proves the sincerity of David's claim.
"Test me, O Yahweh, and try me; Refine my mind and my heart." (Psalm 26:2 LSB)
A hypocrite fears nothing more than being found out. He lives in mortal dread of the light. But a man of true integrity, while knowing his own weaknesses, does not fear the scrutiny of God. In fact, he invites it. David is so confident that his core orientation is toward God that he asks God to conduct a full and thorough inspection. He is not hiding anything.
The words here are metallurgical. "Test me" is like assaying a metal for its purity. "Try me" means to prove or examine. "Refine" is the word for smelting, for putting a metal in the crucible to burn away all the impurities, all the dross. David is asking God to put him through the fire. He wants to be purified. He is not content with a surface-level righteousness.
And what does he want God to examine? "My mind and my heart." The Hebrew says "my kidneys and my heart." In the ancient world, the kidneys were thought to be the seat of the deepest emotions, the conscience. The heart was the center of the will, the intellect, the entire inner man. David is throwing open the doors to the control room of his soul and saying, "Lord, come in. Check everything. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." This is the prayer of a man who loves God more than he loves his sin. It is a prayer for sanctification, and it is a prayer every true believer should be eager to pray.
The Fuel for the Walk (v. 3)
This final verse is the foundation for everything that has come before it. The word "For" at the beginning is the interpretive key to the whole psalm. Why can David walk in integrity? Why can he trust without wavering? Why can he invite divine inspection? Verse 3 gives the answer.
"For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth." (Genesis 26:3 LSB)
David's confidence is not, ultimately, in his own integrity. His confidence is in the character of God. The reason he can live this way is because he has deliberately and consistently fixed his gaze on God's "lovingkindness." This is the great Hebrew word hesed. It is not a sentimental, Hallmark-card kind of love. Hesed is covenant loyalty. It is steadfast, rugged, unbreakable, pursuing love. It is God's absolute commitment to be God for His people, no matter what.
David lives his life with this reality "before my eyes." He preaches the gospel to himself every day. He reminds himself constantly of God's unbreakable covenant promise. This is the fuel for his obedience. He is not trying to earn God's favor by his integrity; rather, his integrity is the grace-driven response to God's favor, which he knows is already his.
And the result of keeping God's hesed in view is that he has "walked in Your truth." God's truth, His 'emeth, is His faithfulness, His reliability. Because God is a God of hesed, His Word is true and His way is reliable. Walking in God's truth means living your life in conformity with the reality that God has revealed. It means your life is aligned with the grain of the universe, which is held together by the Word of His power.
So we see the logic. David's integrity is a walk in God's truth. That walk in God's truth is made possible by a constant focus on God's lovingkindness. Christian obedience is not a grim duty performed to a distant tyrant. It is a joyful response to a faithful Father whose covenant love is the central reality of our existence.
Conclusion: The Ground of Our Standing
This psalm confronts our sloppy and sentimental age with a bracing vision of the Christian life. It is a life of integrity, of wholeness, where our walk matches our talk. It is a life of stability, of not wavering, because our trust is in God and not ourselves. It is a life of open-handed sincerity, eager for God's refining fire.
But this life is not possible through sheer effort. It is only possible when we, like David, learn to set the hesed of God before our eyes. And we see that covenant love most clearly not in our own performance, but at the cross of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate man of integrity, the only one who could truly say this prayer without qualification. His perfect walk is credited to us, and His Spirit is given to us, so that we might begin to walk as He walked.
Therefore, our confidence is not in our walk, but in His. And yet, because we are in Him, we are called to get up and walk. We ground our standing in His finished work, and then, fueled by the glorious reality of God's lovingkindness, we get on with the business of living integrated, whole lives in this crooked and disintegrating world. This is our task. This is our calling. And by His grace, it can be our testimony.