The Setting Of Sin
Day 1
Read Psalm 101
This is a royal Psalm. One way to think about it is like it is David’s campaign commercial for how he will be king. Granted, they did not elect kings, so the analogy didn’t really work. The more that I have spent time with this Psalm, the more I have found incredible value in it. So, I know it will be strange and you will be enticed to do all five days of devotions at once, but spend the week with this Psalm. The whole week. Let’s pick out five decrees that David makes that are his goals in how he wants his leadership to be viewed. Then, when we go forward in the story, we can try to reconcile who he becomes.
He starts out talking about being a worshipper. Imagine that…a leader that starts out his decree of who he will be as a worshipper. He nailed that. He was known for his music and his song writing. But there is more here.
What do you think it means that David would worship by singing of His steadfast love and justice?
How do you see God’s steadfast love?
What about His justice and the importance of justice to Him? Why is that important and why would it be at the top of the list of worship topics?
Are you a worshipper and do you think it would be something that you should be known for?
How does this make it into your prayers today?
This is a royal Psalm. One way to think about it is like it is David’s campaign commercial for how he will be king. Granted, they did not elect kings, so the analogy didn’t really work. The more that I have spent time with this Psalm, the more I have found incredible value in it. So, I know it will be strange and you will be enticed to do all five days of devotions at once, but spend the week with this Psalm. The whole week. Let’s pick out five decrees that David makes that are his goals in how he wants his leadership to be viewed. Then, when we go forward in the story, we can try to reconcile who he becomes.
He starts out talking about being a worshipper. Imagine that…a leader that starts out his decree of who he will be as a worshipper. He nailed that. He was known for his music and his song writing. But there is more here.
What do you think it means that David would worship by singing of His steadfast love and justice?
How do you see God’s steadfast love?
What about His justice and the importance of justice to Him? Why is that important and why would it be at the top of the list of worship topics?
Are you a worshipper and do you think it would be something that you should be known for?
How does this make it into your prayers today?
Day 2
Read Psalm 101
I know…again. It will happen every day this week. Hopefully you recognized it when you read it! But I get it if you didn’t too. I have been there.
This is David’s decree about how his kingdom would be known. His manifest of how he wanted his life to be lived before the people and how his kingdom would be known throughout the world.
“I will ponder the way that is blameless.”
Not just hear about it. This is meant to give a deeper and more full idea of sitting and spending time with it. It is about being deliberate and careful in his way. For each of these days, I want you to imagine what it would be like to have a politician in our culture that said or did things like this.
How can you ponder the way that is blameless?
“I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.”
How important is it to be a person of integrity at home and out in public?
How have you seen people not like this?
How have you struggled being this?
How does this become a prayer for today?
I know…again. It will happen every day this week. Hopefully you recognized it when you read it! But I get it if you didn’t too. I have been there.
This is David’s decree about how his kingdom would be known. His manifest of how he wanted his life to be lived before the people and how his kingdom would be known throughout the world.
“I will ponder the way that is blameless.”
Not just hear about it. This is meant to give a deeper and more full idea of sitting and spending time with it. It is about being deliberate and careful in his way. For each of these days, I want you to imagine what it would be like to have a politician in our culture that said or did things like this.
How can you ponder the way that is blameless?
“I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.”
How important is it to be a person of integrity at home and out in public?
How have you seen people not like this?
How have you struggled being this?
How does this become a prayer for today?
Day 3
Read Psalm 101
“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”
We could hang out on that for quite a while. The word translated “worthless” here is used to talk about Eli’s sons that were the corrupt priests. Also Nabal’s wife used it about her deadbeat husband in 1 Samuel before he died drunk and riddled with folly. There are lots of other places. But the point is that it can have a wide array of thoughts. Most of the time when we talk about this verse, we use it to talk about things on the internet that are inappropriate or something like that. Maybe…but not only.
What are some things that you set before your eyes that are worthless?
What is the problem with setting worthless things before our eyes?
Ok…it really sounds like we could get into tv, social media, phones, etc here. So how do we draw the lines of taking this too far and not taking it far enough?
What is the lesson that you need to learn and really pay attention to?
“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”
We could hang out on that for quite a while. The word translated “worthless” here is used to talk about Eli’s sons that were the corrupt priests. Also Nabal’s wife used it about her deadbeat husband in 1 Samuel before he died drunk and riddled with folly. There are lots of other places. But the point is that it can have a wide array of thoughts. Most of the time when we talk about this verse, we use it to talk about things on the internet that are inappropriate or something like that. Maybe…but not only.
What are some things that you set before your eyes that are worthless?
What is the problem with setting worthless things before our eyes?
Ok…it really sounds like we could get into tv, social media, phones, etc here. So how do we draw the lines of taking this too far and not taking it far enough?
What is the lesson that you need to learn and really pay attention to?
Day 4
Read Psalm 101
'Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. '
Hold on. Before you go too far here, I don’t think you should go destroying your neighbors. I don’t even really think that is how this is to be taken from David. He was making a statement about his character and what he would stand for. If we are imagining this being his campaign commercial, as we already discussed, how different is this idea than the idea of making a commercial that does nothing BUT slander someone else? Once again, this is such a great trait to witness in a real leader. David says he will be the type of person that will stand with those that are being slandered, or those that are talked about behind their backs, and stand up for them. It comes from arrogance and David will not stand for that.
Why is this important in a leader, especially a national leader?
Why would this be important in your life and where you live and work?
How can you be a person like this?
Why not take some time to leave some discussion about this idea on the app? This should be some fun conversation to see unfold!
'Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. '
Hold on. Before you go too far here, I don’t think you should go destroying your neighbors. I don’t even really think that is how this is to be taken from David. He was making a statement about his character and what he would stand for. If we are imagining this being his campaign commercial, as we already discussed, how different is this idea than the idea of making a commercial that does nothing BUT slander someone else? Once again, this is such a great trait to witness in a real leader. David says he will be the type of person that will stand with those that are being slandered, or those that are talked about behind their backs, and stand up for them. It comes from arrogance and David will not stand for that.
Why is this important in a leader, especially a national leader?
Why would this be important in your life and where you live and work?
How can you be a person like this?
Why not take some time to leave some discussion about this idea on the app? This should be some fun conversation to see unfold!
Day 5
Read Psalm 101
'No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. '
Did you ever get in trouble with the warning that whatever you did won’t happen in THIS house? That is the spirit that David is saying this in. Integrity was obviously very important to him. He was a man that was truthful and desired to dwell in truthfulness.
Is truthfulness something that you value highly?
How do you strive to make your house one that exists without deceit?
Are you known for your truthfulness and integrity? Why or why not?
Who is the most honest person that you know and why do you remember them being so honest?
How does this fit into your prayers today?
'No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. '
Did you ever get in trouble with the warning that whatever you did won’t happen in THIS house? That is the spirit that David is saying this in. Integrity was obviously very important to him. He was a man that was truthful and desired to dwell in truthfulness.
Is truthfulness something that you value highly?
How do you strive to make your house one that exists without deceit?
Are you known for your truthfulness and integrity? Why or why not?
Who is the most honest person that you know and why do you remember them being so honest?
How does this fit into your prayers today?
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