Psalm 101
A note from one of my study Bibles: “A perverse heart (v. 4) and a deceitful tongue (v.7) are root and fruit.” Cute.
It’s easy to applaud David’s intent in this Psalm, but the reality of removing all evil from around him and his reign (or that of Solomon’s) is much more difficult. A leader has a limit as to how many of his subjects are closest to him. He can know those few well; he can trust them to do what is right, but then they have people under them only slightly well known to the leader. You can quickly see the problem. At Freedom Road this past week we had a discussion about control and came up with a simple truth – you can control your activities (and you should do what is right), but you cannot (and should not) try to control the outcomes of those activities. David’s activities (his intent to remove all evil from around him and his reign) and those outcomes (that reality) are most certainly at odds when we consider fallen humanity. Consider Jesus and His three (Peter, James, and John), then the other eight, then Judas. The heart and the tongue, root and fruit.
Agreed, Fred. David, like us, has great intentions. But we can never live up to them, without the Holy Spirit. As Paul says, I do what I do not want to do. What a wretch I am. Who can save me? Thank God, Jesus Christ!