Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Hiking like any other outdoor sport comes with some inherent risk.

It is not the flat and easy paths that bring the most danger and require the most caution.

It is the path wrought with twists and turns, steep inclines, loose rocks, and other terrain that create instability as one traverses the landscape.

Balance and ability to remain upright is tested by any one of a number of things while on the trail.

Sure-footedness is necessary for walking these paths unscathed and upright.

Just as being sure-footed is necessary on the hiking trails so too is it needed in our spiritual walk as well.

Life is also fraught with hazards that we must navigate while remaining upright in our walk.

We need to develop sure-footedness spiritually just like we need it physically.

Without it we fall.

How do we react when some one takes advantage, when we are used, manipulated, ripped off, betrayed or falsely accused?

Psalm 26 is about the sure-footedness of David.

The first and the last verse sandwich the Psalm and gives us the theme.

Verse 1 “Vindicate me LORD because I have lived with integrity and have trusted the LORD without wavering” Wavering - Slipping, Sliding, Shaking, or Stumbling

Verse 12 “My foot stands on level ground;” remains grounded, firm and balanced

Lets take a closer look and see how David was able to remain sure-footed so we can too.

Walk With Integrity

Perhaps this again happens around the time when Absalom is trying to seize the throne by spreading lies about his father David.

David looks to the LORD and calls for the LORD to vindicate him.

To vindicate is to give justice, defend one’s reputation.

To seek to vindicate one’s self is to walk upon a steep incline with shifting rocks and loose dirt.

Sure-footing is found only in calling for the LORD’s vindication.

David gives two reasons for the LORD to vindicate him.

First reason is he has lived with integrity.

Lived is also translated to walked and speaks of not a one time, but a habit of, or a lifetime of choosing integrity.

David was a man of integrity, this is affirmed by God.

The second reason David gives for God to vindicate him, is that he has trusted in the LORD.

Trusted or in other words, put confidence in, relied upon the LORD or has his hope in the LORD.

David wants to be vindicated not just to show he righteous and full of integrity but to show God as faithful to the one who trust in Him and lives according to Him.

Not only has he trusted and hoped in the LORD but that hope has been unwavering - sure-footed.

David then submits himself to the LORD to be tested and tried.

Literally David says put me to the test to ascertain the truth of my nature.

The word literally being borrowed from metallurgy speaks of being submitted to the testing furnace which will smelt the metal to liquid revealing any dross or imperfections.

It didnt matter what David said what mattered was what God determined of his heart and mind.

We stand sure-footed when we submit to God’s testing and examining to vindicate us.

How can David (and we) be sure to be vindicated by God’s examining and testing?

David said it was God’s faithful love that guides him.

God’s covenantal love (hesed love) that leads him.

His love is before his eyes.

God’s love leads him in his steps.

We need the Lord’s examination and we cannot fear the furnace of trials that work to refine our faith.

Like David we must say I live by YOUR truth.

Not a truth, not our truth, but purely led by God’s truth.

As God’s people we walk with integrity when we are guided by His faithful love, and we live by His truth.

In this we walk in integrity with God and have the stability in our life because we are sure-footed in our faith in God and it will carry us in all circumstances.

Seek To Be Separate

After affirming that he indeed lives by God’s truth, David then asserts that he seeks to be separate from certain people.

David states he does not sit with the worthless and does not associate with hypocrites.

David seeks to be separate from those who are seen as worthless, those who would practice falsehood a specific type of falsehood - hypocrisy.

David seeks to be separate from spiritual hypocrisy.

Perhaps David in his mind is thinking back on those whom he seeks vindication.

How they readily lie about him and bring false testimony yet then they enter into the tabernacle.

They bring their offerings in a state of hypocrisy, worshiping God with their lips but their hearts are far from Him.

Many who claim to be followers and devoted to God pursuing instead activities of ungodliness.

Hypocrisy taking many forms in their spiritual life - the most evident of which is tolerating sins of the flesh.

Hypocrisy also takes the form of back-biting, gossiping, slandering.

Spiritual hypocrisy is a life lived without integrity before God.

David avoided spiritual hypocrisy by avoiding the hypocrites, and we can too.

To avoid the slippery slope of hypocrisy we must be sure-footed in integrity before God and in also in separating from the hypocrites.

Do not sit with them this means spend time, these are not to be our close friends.

We cannot listen to their words or follow their examples, but we must steer clear of them.

David also strongly states that he hates a crowd of evildoers and does not sit with the wicked.

Not only is David separate from the hypocrite but from the evildoer and the wicked as well.

With the description of actually hating their deeds.

Siting down with carries the connotation of fellowship, approving fellowship - David did not do this and we shouldn’t either.

There is no sure-footing in fellowship with evil and wicked.

David has in mind those who he chose to associate with.

We may have little to no control over some associations and contacts in life, but of those we do we must be careful to keep ourselves separate from evil.

One area in which we must reevaluate our separation is in our entertainment choices - we usually choose poorly.

To find sure-footing we must evaluate who and what we allow to entertain and amuse us, what we choose as examples and models.

Instead choose to separate ourselves from them, because they will become our idols which we will stumble and fall over.

David however seeks not only to be separated FROM wicked and evil men, but to be separated UNTO GOD!

In order to be separated unto God David had to wash his hands in innocence.

He cleansed his hands from sin and defilement.

David knew he wasnt innocent and neither are we - for we all have hands that are dirty with sin.

We must cleanse them in order to separate ourselves unto God.

As we are in a time of history where people probably wash their hands more than they have in history it is a good time to remind ourselves that we receive the cleansing of our hands - we arent able to clean our own hands that comes from God’s gracious provision of Jesus and His work on the cross.

It is our responsibility to cleanse our hands from wicked actions, our mouths from wicked words our minds from wicked thoughts and our heart from wicked desires.

David also separated himself unto God through praise and worship.

Raising his voice in thanksgiving and telling about God’s wondrous works.

Though he is seeking to be vindicated David still was able to go around the altar of the LORD in thanksgiving and praise.

One of the slipperiest paths is one where maybe God is taking things away from us - the way to remain sure-footed is through praising and learning to say the Lord gives and takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord!

Sure-footing is definitely found in being separated from evil and also separated unto God

Trust God

David not only was separated to the Lord in worship but David also loved the LORD.

He loved to be in the presence of the LORD and to be near to the LORD.

David loved to be near the LORD, he enjoyed his presence and spent much time in it.

Through prayer, through spiritual pursuits in God’s word.

David loved the house where God dwelt and the place his glory resides.

David just loved to be around God he loved His presence.

Sure-footing is found in the presence of the Lord, those who love to be in His presence find themselves in it more often and most often.

Do you love the Lord and desire to be close?

Do you love the LORD’s house and desire His presence?

How near are you to God?

The promise of the Bible is we are as close to God as we want to be.

David did not desire the presence or fellowship of the evil or the wicked.

Nor does he desire to share in their fate.

David does not act like them and does not live like them and therefore trusts that he does not share their fate.

He knows the sinners are destined for destruction.

David didnt desire their company in life and at the end of it he still desires to remain separate from the sinners.