Embrace the Word for Monday, August 10, 2026

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Psalm 101 is a reoriented focus on how the LORD who reigns will reign through a Davidic king. While Psalms 93-100 focused on the Kingship of the LORD, Psalm 101 shifts the focus by considering the king whom the LORD would install. The LORD’s installed king, first referenced in Psalm 2, will be endowed with pure character, which will shape the way he governs the people. With this emphasis upon the king whom the LORD will install, Psalm 101 reintroduces a superscription that identities it as a Davidic Psalm: “A Psalm of David.” This is the first of only two Psalms in Book 4 of the Psalter that are explicitly labeled as Davidic. This clearly expressed Psalm of David comes in the context of Book 4, which seeks to instill hope to a nation exiled in Babylon that their captivity would soon end as the LORD is upholding the promises made in the Davidic covenant. Psalm 101, which is most likely part of a small subunit of Psalms 101-103 in Book 4, shares many links with the previous subunit of Psalm 93-100. Psalm 101 begins with attention upon the personal integrity of the future Davidic king (101:1-4), and concludes with attention upon the public influence of the future Davidic king (101:5-8).

Psalm 101 opens with David’s statement of praise to the LORD: “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will make music” (101:1). This Psalm, which focuses upon the character and nature of a Davidic king, begins with a focus upon the LORD. The foundation of the life and work of the Davidic king is the character and nature of the LORD. Thus, it is the LORD who is to be praised for the kind of king that He will raise up. It is the LORD who is truly a king who rules with steadfast love and everlasting righteousness. David begins his description of the future king, with worship. While David is the author of this Psalm, and he attempted to rule in accordance with the integrity put forth in this Psalm, David did not live up to the moral ideas expressed in this Psalm. But David knew that the LORD did and that the LORD will uphold His covenant promises to him and raise up a king after him who would have the integrity and influence depicted in this Psalm. Therefore, David “will sing” and “make music” to the LORD. David worships as he reflects on the LORD: “I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me?” (101:2a). So, as David singingly describes the king whom the LORD will raise up, He meditates upon the LORD who will raise up such a king.

It is the LORD who is a God full of integrity and David yearns for the LORD to send a king to the house of David that will reflect the LORD: “I will walk with integrity of heart within my house” (101:2b). As David has started with delighting in the LORD’s integrity (101:1), he is determined to reflect such integrity by rejecting all that undermines the cultivation of that integrity. David’s resolve to possess true integrity of the heart is broken down into specifics with a series of negative statements. The positive resolve of integrity in the heart involves a rejection of wicked operations in the heart. To reflect the LORD’s integrity requires rejecting the people, things, places, ideas, activities, and/or thoughts that oppose the LORD. True godliness requires denials. So David resolves: “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (101:3a). David starts with attention to where the king’s desires must be focused. The eyes are instructed on where to look based upon the bent of one’s desires and yet the fluctuation of one’s desires are influenced by the focus of the eyes. To possess integrity, David speaks of the resolve to divest himself of anything that is morally empty.

Building upon a denial concerning his focus and desires, David addresses the rejection of wicked behavior: “I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me” (101:3b). David has observed that those who fall away from the LORD, do so, not because of intellectual arguments, but because of moral priorities. Those who renounce the LORD do so because their own actions develop into habits, and those habits give rise to character development, and character development determines one’s destiny. Therefore, each choice of action leads somewhere that it ultimate. David is explaining what may seem to be obscure to understand: one may not begin with a clearly defined intention to turn from the LORD, but each action is a part of forging a direction down one pathway or the other. Thus, David resolves that he will not become attached to ungodly actions. As David started his conversation with speaking about “integrity of heart,” he now concludes by speaking of its counterpart: “A perverse heart shall be far from me” (101:4a). It seems as if David is speaking of who he places around him. If he purposes to have “integrity of heart” then it matters greatly if he is surrounded by those who operate with “a perverse heart.” Cultivating a heart posture requires situational and particularly relational awareness. While the “perverse heart” of someone else does not spread like a virus, thus mere social distancing would be a solution, one cannot be naive to the influences of others. Finally, coupled with the danger of running with people with perverse hearts is the reminder that one must be guarded against ideas and perspectives that are hatched from perverse hearts but promulgated as good. To be vigilant against such wickedness, David resolves: “I will know nothing of evil” (101:4b).

While Psalm 101 started with attention being given to the personal integrity of the Davidic king, it transitions to giving attention to the public influence of one who has such integrity. First, David explains how a king with integrity deals with wicked people: “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure” (101:5). The two examples of wickedness that David addresses are probably overlapping descriptions. A chief trait of wickedness is the deployment of one’s words to cruelly harm someone else. Part of the destructiveness of slander is its a covert operation. Slander is a particularly evil harm in that the object of the attack may not even be fully aware of the devastation that is being sought against them. David locates the source of slander in a distinct bent of the heart: arrogance. Arrogance is a perspective that one has grand regard for oneself. Others pose a threat to such personal regard and therefore their status must be minimized through spreading false reports. It is from the heart that the mouth speaks (See Matthew 12:34), therefore, it is the heart with which one must deal (See Proverbs 4:23). David states that a person with integrity will not tolerate the arrogant slanderer, but will seek to put their operations to an immediate end.

Next, David explains how a king with integrity deals with godly people: “I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me” (101:6). David has a word for how he will deal with the godly. Notice how the personal integrity that the king sought for Himself parallels the integrity that the King requires of everyone. The way of blamelessness that the king sought (101:2) is the blameless way that he expects from others (101:6). The king will love and give honor to those who earnestly seek to put the LORD first in their lives. To those who live with faithfulness and integrity, the king promises increased blessing, “that they may dwell with me,” and expanded privileges as they “shall minister to me.” In each of the blessings described, with the language of “with me,” and “to me,” perhaps the greater benefit will be an enhanced relationship and access to the king.

Finally, David returns to further explain how a king with integrity deals with wicked people: “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD” (101:7-8). As in verse 6, notice the correspondence in verse 7 between the personal integrity of the king and what public policies he puts forth for the people. While the king required “integrity” for his house (101:2), he removes from his house any who “practices deceit” (101:7). In addition, whereas the king purposed to guard what he set before His eyes (101:1), he prohibits liars from being “before his eyes” (101:7). Whereas the king will look on “the faithful in the land” with favor (101:6), he will destroy “all the wicked in the land” and forbid them “from the city of the LORD” (101:7-8). The king will be diligent to protect his realm from such influences, as he will have as a first priority, at the top of his agenda every day, “morning by morning,” the removal of such people.

As we reflect on Psalm 101, we can consider the Lord Jesus Christ and the purity of His eternal rule in the aftermath of His Second Coming. Psalm 101:5,7-8 describes the exclusion of the wicked from the presence of the Davidic king. This sort of exclusion is recorded as Christ promises to banish the wicked from His holy presence: “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (See Revelation 22:15-16). The drastic action of banishment can be avoided. In the kindness of the Lord, these words are warnings to turn from wickedness and turn to Christ. Those who will gain entrance into the Lord’s presence are not any who have qualified themselves to be there, but those who have heeded God’s warnings and have turned to Christ, who is the only provision for sin: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates” (See Revelation 22:14). Jesus, who will banish the wicked from His presence in eternity, offers amnesty and a clean robe of righteousness for any who come to Him today. David offers a glimpse of life with the Lord in the eternal state: “I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me” (101:6).

That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, August 10, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, August 12, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 102.