Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

In the beginning of Psalm 26, it may seem like David is boasting about his righteousness,

but as he continues on, he makes it clear that the source of his righteousness is God's steadfast love.

That's what enables him to trust in God.

In verse 3, he says he's walking in God's faithfulness, not his own.

This is another crucial distinction.

He loves the nearness of God and hates the things God opposes.

This Psalm was likely written about the time when so many of David's friends and family betrayed him

and joined forces with his estranged son, Absalom.

So the references to hypocrites and men of falsehood make a lot of sense.

David used to walk closely with these men, so you can see why he would want to set himself

apart from him now that they've shown their true colors. He wants to be markedly different

as a man of integrity for the glory of God. He wants to be vindicated as he disassociates from

the evildoers. Psalm 40 covers a lot of ground. This was written to be a corporate song, but it was almost

certainly borne out of a lot of David's personal experiences. If we zoom out on the timeline

of his life, this Psalm almost seems to fit his storyline perfectly so far. In verse one,

he waits patiently before the Lord, just as he waited 15 years to be king. In verse 2, God drew him up out

of the pit of destruction when Saul was trying to destroy his life. And David continued to praise God,

and God continued to bless David. He mentions repeatedly how he proclaimed God's goodness

for all to hear. In song and in conversation and among large

groups of people, he can't stop talking about God's goodness to him. But then things take a rough

turn in verse 12, just like they did in David's life. His iniquity and sin, like with Bashsheba and

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