Psalm 17:3 - February 13, 2009

Ps 17:3 "Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin." NIV

David is in a season of his life where he is living in great confidence before God. “Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing:” What a bold declaration of his standing before the Almighty God. This is either a case of great presumption or a man with a clean conscience. I Jn. 3:21 declares, “if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” As we spoke of in Ps. 24, the one who ascends with God is the man with clean hands and a pure heart, the man whose words are not false. David was such a man.
Oh, to be able to declare before God, “You will find nothing in my heart when you test me!” David was living in a place of great confidence before God because of the state of his conscience. There was no condemnation in his life and so he can make this bold declaration before God. This is an expression of what is available to the believer today. He. 4:16 instructs the saints of God to “Come boldly before the throne of grace!” We have been invited into a bold, confident relationship with God but it is only accessible to those who have a clean heart, a clean conscience.
Where can I find such a heart? How do I find confidence before him? Live leaning into grace! The Word of God invites us into a lifestyle that is a marriage between the resolve in our hearts to desire purity and living in the knowledge of our imperfection and our need for grace. If we are leaning towards God, pressing for all that is available to us in God, then we can rest in the knowledge that God’s grace is covering our lives where we fall short. David resolved in his heart that he would not sin with his mouth. He understood the principle that James taught many years later when he said, James 3:1-2 “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.” What a great starting place for acquiring a clean conscience, “dominion over our mouth.” Make choice today to give the words of your mouth to the Lord. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:11 “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” Let Like David, let us resolve to speak as if we are the very mouth of God and let the prophet spirit that was on him be released through us.