Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19960512.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Twenty-Six: Overcoming False Guilt By A False Accusation
(Psalm 26:1-12)
  1. Introduction
    1. A very difficult experience that the believer can face is that of being strongly accused of guilt by an opposing party where the accused at first thinks he is innocent, but later succumbs to the incessant pressure of the accuser and begins to second-guess his innocence!
    2. Psalm Twenty-Six is a study in handling such false guilt by a false accusation as follows:
  2. Overcoming False Guilt By A False Accusation, Psalm 26:1-12.
    1. David wrote this psalm under the pressure of facing a charge of guilt by an opponent: the KJV word "judge" in verse 1 is better rendered "vindicate," implying that David was under attack as being guilty.
    2. However, the fact that David pleads with God for vindication shows us that he had faced certain facts and arrived at the conclusion that he was, in fact, innocent. We examine how David arrived at this conclusion in the psalm to discover steps to work through another's accusation to test our innocence as follows:
      1. Evidence One - David's belief that God had loyal love toward him kept him from self deception, and that worked to give evidence that he was not guilty in truth.
        1. David had always kept the loyal love (chesed) of God's character conspicuously in his view of God so he had the confidence that God would forgive should he have sinned, Ps. 26:3a.
        2. Thus, there was no motivation for David to deceive himself so as to hide from a fault he had as he knew God could restore Him according to that loyal love were he inadvertently to have blown it.
      2. Evidence Two - This confidence in God's loyal love to him acted to make David bold enough to ask God openly to test his heart and motives for guilt, another sign he was innoce nt, Ps. 26:3a.
      3. Evidence Three - David had always walked in the truth of God's word, an encouraging indication of his being indeed innocent, Ps. 26:3b.
      4. Evidence Four - He had not associated with sinful men, another sign he was innocent, Ps. 26:4-5.
      5. Evidence Five - David was bold in fellowshipping with God in the temple, something one with a guilty conscience would not have perpetually done, Ps. 26:6.
      6. Evidence Six - David had boldly testified in the temple congregation of God's many deeds in his behalf, something not typical of a guilty party, Ps. 26:7.
      7. Evidence Seven - David admitted his love for being at the place of temple worship where God dwelt, another sign that he was indeed an innocent man, Ps. 26:8.
    3. Based upon this confidence of his innocence, David requested help from God to handle the false accusations of his oppressors, Ps. 26:9-11.
    4. In closing, David stated his confidence that he was secure in his standing before God, saying that he stood on level ground in the presence of God, and that he would bless God in the temple congregation with full confidence of God's bl essing, Ps. 26:2.
Lesson: David tested himself to evaluate his innocence or guilt due to accusations by his opponents, and cleared himself as follows: (a) he had a deep belief in God's grace and thus was not motivated to be self deceiving with false innocence; (b) David's confidence in that grace equipped him to pray, asking God to test his motives for effective evaluation; this indicated innocence, too. (c) David habitually walked in Scripture's truth, another indication he was not guilty as accused. (d) He did not associate with guilty men, another evidence he was innocent. (e) David boldly fellowshipped with God in the temple meetings, indicating he had a clear conscience. (f) He also boldly testified in temple meetings of God's goodness to him, another in dication that he was not harboring a bad conscience. (g) David admitted his love for being in the temple worship, another indication that he was an innocent man. Based upon these evidences of innocence, David confidently prayed for vindication and libe ration from false accusations.

Application: If we test ourselves by the criteria David did, we can tell if we are harboring real guilt or facing false guilt from our accusers as was David!