In this psalm, David, after he was anointed king, 1 Samuel 16:13 / 2 Samuel 2:4 / 2 Samuel 5:3, set out his ideals for maintaining his kingship among God’s people. He was determined to live his life with dignity, and he was determined to remove all evil from his service.
Although the headings aren’t inspired by God, they are important because they give us some understanding of the Psalm, and they help us to see why it was written. The headings usually tell us four things.
1. Who wrote them, probably wrote them, or possibly wrote them.
2. Information about the historical background to the Psalm. Why was it written?
3. They tell us of the tune the Psalm was written to.
4. How it was used.
The heading tells us this is a psalm of David.
David begins by announcing that he will sing songs of praise which speak about God’s love and justice, Psalm 101:1. God had been merciful and just with him, and so, David in turn wanted to be merciful and just with others, Matthew 6:12 / Luke 6:36 / James 2:13.
David declares that he is determined to lead a blameless life, Psalm 101:2. Remember, ‘blameless’ doesn’t mean sinless, but it refers to doing what needed to be done under the Old Testament Law to have his sin forgiven.
When God comes to Him, Psalm 101:2, that is, when God is in his presence, he will be obedient to the law, Psalm 101:2 / Deuteronomy 28:1-14 / 1 John 1:6-7. As it is with most of us, a blameless heart begins in our own homes, Psalm 101:2, and so he promises to live a righteous life as an example before his family.
He is determined not to look for the approval of anything vile, Psalm 101:3 / Job 31:1 / 1 John 2:16. In other words, he will only look upon what is right in God’s eyes.
David is determined to stay away from anything wicked, Psalm 101:3. He is determined to hate what faithless people do and will not get involved with anything they do, Psalm 101:3 / 1 Corinthians 15:33.
He wouldn’t allow his loyalty to God to be compromised by friends who fell away from God. He wouldn’t associate with apostates. He would maintain companions who were righteous, but he would stay away from evil companions, Psalm 101:4.
He is determined that anyone who slanders another in secret will be silenced, Psalm 101:5. In other words, he would reject those who maliciously spoke to him about others.
He is determined that he will not tolerate all those who have haughty eyes and are proud, Psalm 101:5 / Exodus 3:8 / Proverbs 28:25 / Job 11:9. In other words, he promised that he would associate with humble people, not those who played politics in order to gain his favour as the king of Israel.
He is determined that those who are faithful in the land will dwell with him and those who are walking blamelessly will minister to him, Psalm 101:6. In other words, he would focus on the righteous and encourage them to be his friends.
However, those who are practising deceit will not live in his house, and those who speak falsely against him will not be in his presence, Psalm 101:7. In other words, he will reject from his court all those who deceive in order to gain favour or promote their own personal agendas.
He is determined to silence all the wicked in the land and cut off every evildoer with the city, Psalm 101:8, that is, Jerusalem, Psalm 46:4 / Psalm 48:2 / Psalm 48:8. The reason for doing this every morning was simply to get rid of the wicked so that their influence would not infect the people.
Although David would sin on numerous occasions, 2 Samuel 3:2-5 / 1 Samuel 5:13 / 2 Samuel 11:2, at this point in his life, he was determined to do what was right by God’s standards. Overall, David truly was a man after God’s own heart, 1 Samuel 13:14 / Acts 13:22.
Godly leadership is a must for any congregation of the Lord’s church, and godly leaders recognise that it is Christ’s church, and He is the one with all the authority, Matthew 28:18 / Colossians 1:18 / Hebrews 10:12 / 1 Timothy 6:15.
In the first century, each local assembly was under the guidance of men known as elders, 1 Timothy 3:1-7 / Titus 1:6-9. They were elders because they were older, especially in experience, bishops, or overseers because they ‘oversaw’ the work of the church, and pastors because they shepherded the flock.
Like David, they too must be determined to lead God’s people in God’s ways and be on their guard for anyone who would come amongst the flock to destroy them, Acts 20:28-31.