Psalms 101:1-8: a reflection

1I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, LORD, I will sing praises. 2I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart. 3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me. 4A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil. 5I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited. 6My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he will serve me. 7He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes. 8Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the LORD’s city.

In this psalm, David resolves to live a life of integrity, and notably, to do so not only in public but within his own house, in private, guarding what he sets before his eyes. I will be careful to live a blameless life, he says; I will walk within my house with a blameless heart. I will set no vile thing before my eyes. David's resolve for integrity extends to his private life, to how he walks within his own house and what he allows before his eyes, not only to his public conduct. He determines to guard his heart and his eyes, to keep vile things away, to walk with integrity even where no one but God sees. This shows the value of pursuing integrity in private, not only in public. Resolve to live with integrity even in private, within your house. Guard what you set before your eyes, even where no one else sees. Integrity is for private life too, not only public conduct. Walk with a blameless heart even in your own house.

Notice that David's resolve for integrity reaches into his private life. It is one thing to maintain a good appearance in public, where others see; David resolves to walk with a blameless heart within his own house, in private, where only God sees. He determines to set no vile thing before his eyes, to guard what he looks at and allows into his heart, to keep evil and deceit at a distance. This is a searching example. Much of our real character is formed and revealed not in public, where we are watched, but in private, in what we do and look at and allow when no one is watching, within our own house, before our own eyes. It is easy to maintain integrity as a public appearance while neglecting it in private; but true integrity is whole, reaching into our private lives, our homes, what we set before our eyes. David resolves to guard even this, to walk blamelessly where only God sees. We do well to pursue integrity not only in public but in private, guarding our hearts and our eyes, mindful that God sees even where others do not. True integrity reaches into private life, where only God sees. Guard what you set before your eyes in private, not only your public conduct. Walk with a blameless heart even where no one but God is watching. Real character is revealed in private; pursue integrity there too.

That is worth taking to heart, for true integrity reaches into our private lives, not only our public conduct, and we do well to guard our hearts and eyes even where only God sees. We can maintain integrity as a public appearance while neglecting it in private, in what we do and look at when no one is watching; but David resolved to walk with a blameless heart within his own house and to set no vile thing before his eyes. Integrity is for private life too. Pursue integrity not only in public but in private, guarding what you set before your eyes, mindful that God sees even where others do not. Pursue integrity in private as well as in public, resolving to walk with a blameless heart even within your own house and to guard what you set before your eyes, as David resolved to be careful to live a blameless life, to walk within his house with a blameless heart, and to set no vile thing before his eyes; for much of our real character is formed and revealed not in public, where we are watched, but in private, in what we do and look at and allow when no one is watching, within our own homes and before our own eyes, and it is easy to maintain integrity as a public appearance while neglecting it in private, but true integrity is whole and reaches into our private lives, so that we do well to guard our hearts and eyes and keep evil at a distance even where only God sees, mindful that he sees even where others do not, walking blamelessly in private as David resolved to do.

Lord, in this psalm, David resolves to live a life of integrity, and notably, to do so not only in public but within his own house, in private, guarding what he sets before his eyes. I will be careful to live a blameless life, he says; I will walk within my house with a blameless heart. I will set no vile thing before my eyes. David's resolve for integrity extends to his private life, to how he walks within his own house and what he allows before his eyes, not only to his public conduct. He determines to guard his heart and his eyes, to keep vile things away, to walk with integrity even where no one but you sees. This shows the value of pursuing integrity in private, not only in public. Show me that David's resolve for integrity reaches into his private life. It is one thing to maintain a good appearance in public, where others see; David resolves to walk with a blameless heart within his own house, where only you see. He determines to set no vile thing before his eyes, to guard what he looks at and allows into his heart. This is a searching example. Much of my real character is formed and revealed not in public, where I am watched, but in private, in what I do and look at and allow when no one is watching. It is easy to maintain integrity as a public appearance while neglecting it in private; but true integrity is whole, reaching into my private life, my home, what I set before my eyes. Take that to my heart, for true integrity reaches into my private life, not only my public conduct. Keep me from maintaining integrity only as a public appearance while neglecting it in private; help me walk with a blameless heart even within my own house, Lord, and guard what I set before my eyes, mindful that you see even where others do not, pursuing integrity where only you are watching.