Vindicate Me Lord, For I Worship And Follow You (Psalm 26)
Sometimes it is difficult to understand how one Christian can treat other Christians the way that they do. And throughout the Scriptures we have a lot of discussion about the way Christians are to treat one another. The New Testament, especially, is filled with commands discussing how we are to treat each other. There are numerous counts different counts, but I do not believe I have seen anyone say there are less than 50 “one another” commands in the Scriptures. They include commands such as,
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34 ESV)
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10 ESV)
“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26 ESV)
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:12-13 ESV)
“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” (James 4:11 ESV)
And this is so important that we are, as a church, not to tolerate that sort of behavior from those in our midst. People who stir up division in a church and want to quarrel are not to be tolerated in the body of Christ.
“But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” (Titus 3:9-11 ESV)
“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17 ESV)
So, we know from God’s Word that we are not to tolerate among us the kind of dissention that is described in this text. And I hope and pray that when the day comes that someone begins to stir up division among us that we have the courage to follow the Lord and do what Scripture commands. Our Lord laid out the instructions for handling such an issue.
“”If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17 ESV)
So, why did I bring all this up?
Well, the Scriptures go into a lot of detail in this matter as far as dealing with this sort of issue. But how do we pray when someone in our church treats us wickedly?
What should we pray for when one of the people we partake the Lord’s Supper with spreads false rumors about us? Or treats us wickedly?
Psalm 26 deals with this very topic.
Pray that the Lord will reveal the truth. Pray that the Lord will vindicate you because you are the one that walks in His ways.
Vindicate Me Lord, For I Walk In Your Ways (Psalm 26:1-3)
It will become clear as we move through this text that this is a prayer for vindication because someone who worships with him in the sanctuary of the Lord has spoken falsely about him. Because of the nature of things in the Old Testament, this does not help us to know when this Psalm was written. It could have been any time there was a dust up around David in Israel.
And in the middle of this ordeal, David pleads with God to do one thing for him, and I believe it to be an incredible thing. He simply prays for vindication. Vindication is what happens when someone is shown to have been on the side of right when it was made to seem that they were on the side of wrong or evil. Vindication is what happens when a person is on trial, and they are found to have been telling the truth all along while others make it seem as if they were lying. Some false report is being spread around Israel and David simply prays for vindication.
David cries out to the Lord here, pleading with God for it to become evident that he is on the side of right. He is asking God to make it obvious to all that he is following the Lord and His ways. He knows that he has lived with integrity and trusted the Lord throughout everything. David is not perfect, but he knows that things are not as people are saying that they are. And he asks the Lord to test him and to prove him (Psalm 26:2). And he does all of this because he knows that he walks in the Lord’s ways and his worship matches his lifestyle.
He knows that the Lord loves Him and that he faithfully walks in the Lord’s ways. He knows that the things being said about him are lies.
We should be people whose lives match our testimony. That should be something that matters deeply to us. It should be something that consumes much of our energy for we want to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. But that does not mean that we will always be perfect. In fact, we are sinners and will oftentimes fail even when we are trying to follow the Lord.
Part of acknowledging our frailty as sinful human beings is understanding that there are times when our enemies spot sin in our lives. That is a rather unwelcome occurrence, is it not? And when we ask for the Lord to test us, don’t be surprised if something turns up that you need to repent of.
The Christian has been redeemed. We have been purchased from sin, death, and Satan by the finished work of Christ. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among. He lived a perfect life, the life we should have lived. And He died on the cross and paid the punishment for sin. The Christian is not the person who is perfect and has their entire life put together, but the person who has turned from ruling his life and trusted in Christ who accomplished all righteousness and the forgiveness of sins on their behalf. So don’t think that you are always going to be in the right. You are a sinner saved by God’s grace and there may be times where you are self-deceived.
But even though this is the case, salvation is not just about our eternal fate. It is not just a ticket into Heaven. The Christian is born again, they long for the good, the right, and the beautiful in this life. And God is forming them into the image of His Son throughout this life through the process of sanctification. There should be a coherence between their profession and their actions.
And this is where this text really hits us hard. That person who spreads false accusations about a person they worship with is a hypocrite and not a true believer. This prayer for vindication is a prayer that the person falsely accused would be found to be one of God’s people while the hypocrite telling lies is found out.
The person who professes faith in Christ but hates those who are believers is a liar and there is a mismatch between their profession and their life. It is not so
“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1John 4:20-21 ESV)
When those who profess faith in Christ speak ill of us, we seek vindication from God. When they hate us, we seek vindication from God, for if they hate us then it is obvious that they do not practice the truth.
We are seeking for the truth to be known about us and the truth to be known about them. We pray for ourselves to be freed from the allegation or blame that has been poured out upon us. And we seek for the truth to be known about the person bringing the accusations.
Now, this does not keep you from the obligation of confronting the person who is treating you wrong. That command is still there. But this is about our attitude is toward the Lord. We are seeking His vindication. Do not neglect his commands while seeking vindication.
Vindicate Me Lord, For I Worship You In Truth (Psalm 26:4-10)
David now begins to look at his life and plead his case before the Lord. And he begins with the company that he keeps. He does not keep evil company (Psalm 26:4-5). He does not spend his time with those who are openly in rebellion against God: “evildoers”, “wicked”. Nor does he spend his time with those who are secretly in rebellion against God: “liars, hypocrites”.
I want to interject here that I believe we should have a few lost friends. How else are we going to be people who share the good news of what Christ has done with others? But it is important for those close to us to be believers who are walking in faithfulness. Those are the people that we should be sharing life with together. And one of the signs that our life is as it should be is that we are sharing our lives with other strong believers.
The “assembly of evildoers” gather together and act wickedly (Psalm 26:5). But David is different. He washes his hands “in innocence” and goes around the altar of the Lord (Psalm 26:6). This is imagery taken from the purification rites that would take place during worship. While these people assemble to do evil, David assembles to proclaim “thanksgiving”, the “Lord’s wondrous deeds”, and he loves to worship the Lord. The hypocrite does not love to worship the Lord. David is pleading before the Lord that there is a vast difference between him and those who are spreading false accusations concerning him.
With all this being stated, David now asks what seems like the most logical thing. David asks to be treated differently than those who hypocritically worship the Lord.
“Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.” (Psalm 26:9-10 ESV)
So when this occurs, we plead our faithfulness to the Lord. That seems like an odd thing to do because of just how unworthy we stand before the Lord. But these things are written for our benefit. It is good to examine ourselves to see if there be any truth in the accusations or the attitude, but if there is not then you are the person standing upon firm footing.
Church is not a place where wild accusations can just be thrown against another person. It is a place for people who live in and walk in truth. Things will not always go the way you desire. It will not always go the way I desire. We are congregational. And sometimes the voice of the congregation will go against you and that is okay. There is wisdom in that because even if you are the smartest person in the room, you are not smarter than everyone combined. And though those situations cause hurt, we love and care for one another. And we live in a loving way toward one another. We do not go after each other in a worldly and sinful way. We love one another.
And when someone brings false accusations against us, we continue to live in faithfulness to the Lord. If they are correct in what they say, we repent and turn to the Savior for forgiveness. If they are not, then we continue to walk in faithfulness and plead our cause.
I Know You Will Vindicate Me, Lord (Psalm 26:11-12)
David does not get down in the dumps and decide he is just going to abandon faithfulness to the Lord. He doubles down on righteousness and integrity. He is determined to walk in integrity and for his life to continue matching his profession. And again, he pours out his plea for salvation from this thing that is happening to him.
This psalm ends where many of them end. It ends with confidence in the Lord. David knows that his vindication will come. He knows that he is the one that is on firm footing and that the hypocrites will be washed away in judgment. The psalm ends with an incredible trust in the Lord.
When the accusation comes, we do not fear. We do not walk around fearing that the evil that has fallen upon us will destroy us. We trust the Lord amid these trials. So, we plead our faithfulness and trust that the Lord will vindicate us.
Conclusion
We live this life hoping that we never have to run into a situation like this. Church is the last place that we expect to be treated like this. But the truth is that we are still sinners. There are still times when believers wrong us because we are not yet in the New Heavens and Earth. And sadly, there will be people in this life, who go to church who are not Christians. That means that we need to be people who are ready with our response, and this is it. We pray that God will vindicate us in the face of these trials.
R. Dwain Minor