We are continuing on with our study of a psalm of praise David wrote for the Lord to thank Him for the many times He's delivered him. David has already spoken of deliverance from enemies and of the deliverance of his soul. Now he speaks of expecting the Lord, who has always been faithful to those who love Him, to continue being faithful.
"To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the devious You show Yourself shrewd." (2 Samuel 22:26-27) Yesterday we talked about the fact that David sinned against the Lord but obtained mercy because he loved the Lord and repented of his sins and sought the Lord's forgiveness. He was not perfectly righteous (no one is) but righteousness was imputed to him because of his faith in the Lord. So when we find him in verses 26-27 referring to himself and to other children of the Lord as being faithful and blameless and pure, he's not claiming that he or anyone else is sinless. He's saying that the Lord can be counted on to stand by those who are His children by faith. The Lord has come through in the past for those who are His; He will come through for them in the future as well. God has not changed. The One who has done many marvelous works in the past is still just as able and willing to do marvelous works in the days to come.
David says the Lord deals differently with those who are devious. In the original language the word translated as "devious" means "crooked, perverse, distorted, false, twisted". David says the Lord shows Himself "shrewd" with these types of people. The word rendered as "shrewd" means something like "to fight, to strive, to wrestle". A very literal translation of the second half of verse 27 would go like this: "With those who are perverse You will wrestle".
I think David's words in verses 26 and 27 are intended to illustrate the fact that the Lord deals with us in the ways we deal with Him. If we are faithful to Him, He is faithful to us. If we are obedient to Him, He blesses us for our obedience. Even when we sin against Him, if we come to Him in a repentant spirit in the knowledge that He alone can cleanse us from our sins and make us righteous in His sight, He responds by forgiving us of our sins. But if we refuse to acknowledge the right of our Creator to be Lord of our lives, we are fighting against God and that is a fight we cannot win. Either we will recognize our need for Him and surrender our hearts and lives to Him, in which case we are still winners even though we have held up the white flag. Or we will lose by continuing to reject Him over and over until there comes a point where He says, "Have it your way," and stops wrestling with us. This is when He says, "My soul will not always strive with man." (Genesis 6:3a) The verse from Genesis is generally interpreted as a warning that a person can harden his or her heart so much that nothing can get through to them. They no longer feel guilt. They no longer feel the lovingkindness of the Lord trying to draw them to Him. They no longer hear the warnings of the Holy Spirit. Once they've fallen into this condition, nothing short of the Lord completely overwhelming them and forcing them to acknowledge Him could make any difference. And that is the one thing He will not do! The Lord is a gentleman and does not force Himself on anyone. He recognizes our human dignity. He honors the free will He endowed us with. He will not force anyone to accept Him as Lord and Savior.
David has made mistakes but what he said yesterday about himself is true: he has not been guilty of turning away from God. We have noted several times how quick he is to acknowledge and repent of his sins when he becomes aware that he has done wrong. At no time did he stop loving the Lord. At no time did he want the Lord out of his life. At no time has he been guilty of any type of heathen idolatry. There is no record anywhere in the Bible of David dabbling in the occult, which cannot be said of a number of other kings in the Bible. You'll recall that Israel's very first king, Saul, sought the help of a medium. As we travel on through the Bible we'll find many other kings of Israel and Judah flirting with or even giving themselves wholly over to idolatry. But David did no such thing and he is speaking the truth when he says he's remained faithful to the Lord. He's gotten off track here and there but each time he's come to the Lord with a humble spirit asking for forgiveness. He says to the Lord, "You save the humble, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light. With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall." (2 Samuel 22:28-30) He's saying something like, "Without the Lord I am nothing. But with Him there is nothing I cannot do."
We can say the same thing David says. Without the Lord we are nothing. Without Him we are lost, broken, and without hope. But He turns our darkness into light. He heals our brokenness. He forgives us of our sins and saves us. We are no longer "nobodies". We are the dear children of the King of kings!
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