Day 26

PSALM 26: ‘I lead a blameless life’

This psalm is confronting because it presents us with a man confident of his blameless life and innocence. How do we fit this with the clear biblical teaching of universal sinfulness (summed up, for example, in 1 Kings 8:46 or Romans 3:9-20). Must we say that only Jesus could say these words?

Some clues might be helpful.

Similar psalms like Psalm 7 have on view a particular situation or circumstance. So something else rather than a 100% Christlike perfection is being spoken about.
The word for blameless in verses 1 and 11 means ‘integrity’. This quality is more about a life dependent on God rather than hypothetical moral perfection (compare 19:12-13).
There are other examples in the Bible of saints commending their own innocence or integrity (see 2 Cor 1:12, 1 Thess 2:10, Jer 20:11-12, Dan 6:22).

More positively though, how can we let this psalm challenge our own tendency to moral complacency?

Today’s Prayer Suggestions

1. Pray for a life of integrity and devotion to God, confident in His steadfast love.

2. Pray that members of our church would remember their membership promises and act on them faithfully.

3. Pray for Jared Bradley to find a suitable language helper or course for learning German.