​Promise God You Will Be Honest

Psalms 101:1-3 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life – when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.
 
WHAT are you saying if you go before the LORD, as King David did here to announce, “I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.” Hopefully, you are honestly speaking your heart’s love for God. To say, “I will.” is to make a promise. Prayerfully, when you speak, “I will.” to God, you realize you are making a vow to God to fulfill a particular commitment. A vow is a humble confession that tells God, “I devote my life to you.”
   Throughout the psalm David commits an honest heart with several “I will” promises: v 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life 3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. 4b I will have nothing to do with evil. 5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; 5b whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure. 6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land… 8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; 8b I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.
   David has a high responsibility to faithfully live in God’s anointing. He is king of Israel. The king is God’s spokesman. In Israel’s history, the kings either led their people to God or away from God. David says he will lead God’s people to God. Many times the scriptures commend the faithful kings of Judah as men who were like David. An example is 2 Chronicles 29:2 Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.
   To be blameless before the LORD is not a sinless life. That is not possible. Instead, to be blameless is to be honest with God, purposeful to live a righteous life. How easy it is to make vows to God. How simple it becomes to reject those vows. A blameless heart knows God knows whether you are honest with him or not. When you are honest with God, you confess your sins and your shortcomings. Your heart mourns when you are weak, and your heart celebrates when you are faithful.
   David knows, too, he needs help to have a blameless heart. He asked, “When will you come to me?” That means he prayed for God’s Spirit to teach and strengthen him. An honest heart admits weakness. An honest heart seeks God’s strength and responds to his correction. An honest heart confesses, “I have sinned. I want to be more true to you, Lord.”
   There is no greater testimony to God’s truth than to live it with an honest heart. God has graciously taken you from the corrupt world into his pure kingdom. Live to faithfully show his kindness to others. Promise God you desire an honest heart. Then with God’s help, fulfill your promise.