Psalms 26:1-12: a reflection

1Judge me, LORD, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in the LORD without wavering. 2Examine me, LORD, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind. 3For your loving kindness is before my eyes. I have walked in your truth. 4I have not sat with deceitful men, neither will I go in with hypocrites. 5I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. 6I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, LORD, 7that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard and tell of all your wondrous deeds. 8LORD, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells. 9Don’t gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men 10in whose hands is wickedness; their right hand is full of bribes. 11But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Redeem me, and be merciful to me. 12My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless the LORD.

In this psalm, David does a striking and bold thing: he invites God to examine him. Vindicate me, O LORD, he prays, for I have walked in my integrity. Examine me, O LORD, and test me; try my heart and my mind. Rather than fearing God's scrutiny, David welcomes it, asking God to search his heart and mind, confident in his integrity and desiring to be truly known and tested by God. He does not hide from God's examination but invites it.

Notice David's confidence to invite God's searching. Most of us instinctively hide from close examination, especially of our hearts; we fear what would be found. But David boldly invites it: examine me, test me, try my heart. This is not the confidence of one who thinks himself sinless, but of one who genuinely desires integrity, who would rather be searched and known by God than harbor hidden falseness. He wants God to test him, so that whatever is not right might be exposed and set right.

That is a bold but healthy prayer. It is possible to hide from God's examination, avoiding honest self-scrutiny, fearing what might be found. But there is a better way: to invite God to search us, as David did, to test our hearts, to expose whatever is not right so it can be dealt with. Such openness to God's examination is the mark of one who truly desires integrity. Do not hide from God's searching. Invite it, as David did: examine me, O God, and try my heart. Ask God to search you, to expose what needs exposing, and to lead you in integrity. The one who welcomes God's examination is on the path to a clean heart.

Lord, David boldly invited your examination, praying, examine me, O LORD, and test me; try my heart and my mind, welcoming your searching rather than hiding from it. Give me that openness. Most of the time I instinctively hide from close examination of my heart, fearing what would be found. But help me, like David, to invite your searching, not from a sense that I am sinless, but from a genuine desire for integrity, wanting to be truly known and tested by you. Search me, and try my heart; expose whatever is not right in me, so that it can be dealt with. Keep me from hiding from your examination, and help me welcome it, that you might lead me in integrity. Examine me, O God, and make my heart clean before you.