Psalm 26:11
11 But as for me, I will walk [yalak] in mine integrity [tom]:
redeem [padah] me, and be merciful [chanan] unto me. KJV-Interlinear
11 But
as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; Redeem me, and be gracious to me. NASB
There are two patterns of
life that you can live by in this world. The first pattern of course is living
by the word of God. That doesn’t mean a self-righteous snippy snooty type of
attitude towards anyone else, or a holier than thou type of attitude. What it
does mean, is that you are obedient to the mandates that are stated in the
Bible, and you live a normal decent responsible life, with the standards from
the Bible serving as your foundation for how you live in life.
And those standards apply
only to believers in Christ, who are to follow the mandates of God, which begin
with confession, repeated as often as is necessary in one’s daily life in order
to live in the spiritual sphere, which is where your spiritual life functions.
Next is to pursue a daily study of Bible doctrine, which helps you stay focused
on the God side of life and not on the worldly side of life. And the daily
study while in fellowship, serves as the academic environment in which you
learn and understand and grow up in your spiritual life and spiritual preparation
for both now and all of eternity.
The spiritual life is
faith based on confidence established through wisdom which is developed from
understanding that is constructed from knowledge which is learned from a daily
study of the word of God.
The spiritual life is not
pretense, not phony, not a self-righteous air about oneself, not looking down
at the floor in superficial humility or shuffling of one’s feet, and certainly
not the use of pious rhetoric so as to impress or prove to others, one
spiritual status.
Impressing people or
proving to people that you have some form of spiritual legitimacy, is not a
part of the biblical mandates. The only person that will evaluate your
spiritual life is God, and he evaluates you based on the content of your soul,
not the outward display of your looks or actions.
The second pattern of
life, which most people in this world follow, is simply anything and everything
that excludes the spiritual life.
The second pattern of
life is the worldly pattern. All unbelievers live by this pattern of life. All
believers who are not obedient to the mandates described in the Bible, live
this worldly pattern. And any pattern of life that excludes biblical discernment
and understanding, is a pattern based on arbitrary standards, compromised
standards, politically correct or a socially acceptable standards, all of which
can change in a heartbeat as their popularity and acceptance in society
dictates.
The worldly pattern of
life is a filler pattern. It provides volume in history, but is temporary, and ends
when life ends.
The result of following a
worldly pattern means no blessing or reward from God.
And when David stated
that he did not want to be numbered or associated with people who follow and
live by the worldly pattern of life, he is meaning that he does not want to be
included in the type of evaluation that those people are going to receive in
life.
Worldly people are
losers. And David does not want to be associated with losers.
Those who follow the
spiritual pattern are winners. And that is where David wants to be, and that is
where we all should be.
To walk in my integrity,
as David states here in this verse, is not a reference to human integrity or
human righteousness, for those terms are really worldly terms that attempt to
place justification on human effort.
Integrity which is
legitimate, comes only from God. And the only way a person can acquire that
legitimate integrity is to learn it, and come into possession of it, when it is
installed into ones soul by means of a daily study of Bible doctrine.
Redeem me, when one is
already a believer in Christ, does not refer to the original redemption of
salvation, but is a reference to a purchasing out of, or a separation from, the
worldly views of life. And God does this when you learn doctrine. The
transformation of your soul through the learning of truth and subsequent
spiritual growth serve as the redemption process out of, and away from, worldly
views and attitudes and opinions and beliefs.
Mercy is grace in action.
Gods policy is grace, which is God’s favor bestowed on the individual. God’s
favor is God’s promise, and mercy is Gods action on that promise.
If you follow the
spiritual pattern of life in the correct manner, then the actions of the world
are impotent, and the actions of God are permanent.
