Psalm 18:20-23 February 20, 2009

Psalm 18:20-23 "20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;I have not done evil by turning from my God. 22 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees. 23 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. " NIV

As David continues to celebrate the breakthrough that he has experienced in his circumstances he is reflecting on the connection between God’s dealings and his ways. David had a tremendous understanding that even though there is grace and mercy that flows to us in how God deals with us we still have a measure to which God’s reward is commensurate to our lifestyle. “According to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.” David placed a significant amount of focus on the works of our hands. In Ps. 24 David exalts the blessing that comes upon those with clean hands and a pure heart. In this psalm he is applying this principle personally. "My hands are clean and therefore God has delivered me." One of David greatest personal characteristics is that he lived before God in a conscious awareness of his own heart condition. He was faithful to cry out for the Lord to examine him and even though he had some times of personal failure and weakness he was constantly reaching turning back to the Lord to be made right with him.
In this passage David identifies a major point of testing that each one of us faces when we are in similar trying times in our lives. David could have used his trials as an opportunity to justify sin in either his actions or in his attitudes yet he remains firm in his convictions. He announces “I have kept the ways of the Lord… I have not turned from God… I have not turned from his decrees." In his pain David would have had many opportunities to complain about the Lord’s dealings with him and man’s treatment of him yet like Job David holds firmly to a faith filled testimony. David could have responded to his trials the way that Job’s wife did. She exhorted Job to “curse God and die” and in fact that is what many people choose to do in the midst of their struggles. David demonstrates a heart that is holding fast to its confession of faith that God is good and will reward those who stay pure in the midst of hardships.
It is evident in David’s words that in the midst of his storm he was still very conscious of his own actions. He is not merely reflecting on the past as if he were analyzing some of his behaviors that occurred subconsciously or as a reflex action in response to his circumstances. Even in the midst of such a painful season David made a choice! He says, “I have… kept myself from sin.” David didn’t use his circumstances as an excuse to become careless. He maintained a personal discipline and a personal standard of self control “he kept himself!” No one had to do it for him or make excuses for him. David was focused on the Lord and on his own personal standards of character and would not be moved from his principles even when it would have been easier to take seek carnal forms of comfort and blame it on others.