For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 101

1 I will sing of your love and justice;
    to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life –
    when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs of my house
    with a blameless heart.
3 I will not look with approval
    on anything that is vile.

I hate what faithless people do;
    I will have no part in it.
4 The perverse of heart shall be far from me;
    I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

5 Whoever slanders their neighbour in secret,
    I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
    I will not tolerate.

6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
    that they may dwell with me;
the one whose way of life is blameless
    will minister to me.

7 No one who practices deceit
    will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
    will stand in my presence.

8 Every morning I will put to silence
    all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
    from the city of the Lord.

A. Find Out:

1. What does the psalmist start out by doing? v.1
2. What does he declare about himself? v.2,3a
3. How will he avoid unrighteousness? v.3b-5,7
4. What does he say about the righteous? v.6
5. What does he say he will do every day? v.8

B. Think:

1. What appears to be David’s primary desire?
2. How will he achieve that negatively?
3. How will he achieve that positively?

C. Comment:

  This is clearly a psalm of commitment to righteousness by David. He starts out with the intention of praising the Lord for His love and the justice He brings (v.1). Perhaps it is the thought of the Lord who brings justice that makes him say he must live a blameless life (v.2a) for who knows when the Lord could come at any time and hold him accountable (implied v.2b). The rest of the psalm speaks of ways that he will maintain that blameless life. He makes no mention of his heart – it seems that that is taken for granted. All that follows is external.

  He starts with what he sees. He will not allow anything vile to remain before him (v.3a); things done by those who are unfaithful will not be allowed to be seen in his presence (v.3b). Those who have twisted or perverse hearts are to be kept far from him; he wants nothing to do with evil (v.4). If he even hears anyone slandering their neighbour in his presence he will deal with them (v.5a), and even the proud he will not put up with (v.5b). Anyone who is deceitful or tells lies, will not be allowed near him (v.7). In all of these ways he will seek to keep himself blameless – by excluding all forms of unrighteousness from his life.

  But he will not be merely negative; he will be proactive in his desire to be blameless. He will draw others who are like-minded to him (v.6) and he will seek to deal with the wicked in the land for which he is responsible (v.8). This is a psalm about outer righteousness.

D. Application:

1. Remember Jesus called us to be righteous in our hearts.
2. Heart righteousness is to be followed by life righteousness.