Psalm Meditation 1241 ¶Easter ¶March 31, 2024 ¶Psalm 101 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+101&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶This psalm of David in which he pledges to rule with loyalty and justice can set a standard for each of us. We may not rule a nation, however we have influence in groups of which we are a part. If we have no influence on anyone else, we have control of our own actions and reactions. David pledges to turn his life toward God in a way that leads him toward integrity, honesty, humility, and faithfulness. He makes no claim to having achieved the lofty goal of a blameless life, only of moving in that direction. ¶We know that he did not manage to walk in the way of God for very long at a time. We also know that some of the very things David claimed to hate, are the ones of which he was guilty. He was willing to have others killed in order to protect himself, to make other people suffer in order to protect his children, to encourage folks to break their vows to cover up his sinfulness. He did confess and repent of his sins, however he did not cleanse the city of God of all the evildoers since he remained there. ¶We can allow ourselves to become discouraged by David’s failures or we can use them as our own encouragement to keep at it, even when we slip into old habits. We can join David in confessing and repenting of our sins, and continue to study and follow the way that is blameless to the best of our ability, God being our helper. We can also continually strive to achieve the goals David set for himself, avoiding slander, haughtiness, arrogance, lies, and other manner of wickedness. All this so we can come ever closer to following the way that is blameless. ¶March 25, 2024 ¶LCM