Wall paintings of the text of John 3:5 and Psalm 26.6 on the west end of the north wall of the church of St James, Bramley, Hampshire., CC BY-SA 4.0, 19 September 2019, BabelStone
"Vindicate me, O LORD,for I have walked in my integrity,and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.Prove me, O LORD, and try me;test my heart and my mind.For your steadfast love is before my eyes,and I walk in your faithfulness."
- Psalm 26:1-3 (ESV)
Is David prideful, deluded, or something else in making these claims?
He, after all, has not always made the best choices.
We are all pretty ragged and weathered, faded, and fatigued, no matter what truth we convey written on the walls of our lives.
David was, likewise.
Yet, he makes these claims, that he has walked in his integrity and that his faith has not wavered. He is bold enough to invite God to examine him thoroughly.
It must be something else - the same something else available to us: a heart known by God, bathed in mercy, covered by grace, seen through the eyes of love, and living in a constancy of repentance, reorientation, and direction toward God, flawed, forgiven, rebounding, resilient.
There is confidence in that.
It is confidence in the character of God and it is that confidence that defines our integrity and unwavering faith.
