20 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
And have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all His ordinances were before me,
And I did not put away His statutes from me.
23 I was also [j]blameless with Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.25 With the kind You show Yourself kind;
With the [k]blameless You show Yourself blameless;
26 With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the crooked You show Yourself [l]astute.
27 For You save an afflicted people,
But haughty eyes You abase.
28 For You light my lamp;
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
29 For by You I can [m]run upon a troop;
And by my God I can leap over a wall.
In verse 27, David alludes to something that runs throughout this passage, and even throughout the Bible. God doesn’t like a proud spirit. That seems kind of obvious, after all, who likes someone who goes around all full of themselves? But think of that feeling you get when someone takes credit for something that they had nothing to do with (or very little). Now imagine us trying to take credit for our own good deeds…
God knows we need his strength to do such things, and so when we get puffed up, we’re not just foolish, but we’re “thumbing our noses” at the God who enabled us to do it in the first place. Instead, we should learn from this passage, that God loves a humble person, someone who doesn’t need the spotlight, because the spotlight belongs to Him.
And when we do that, when we do everything for His glory, then we can be like David and say “by my God I can leap over a wall.” Maybe you’ll even leap over tall buildings with a single bound… Remember always the true source of your strength–and everything else you possess. Do it all “as unto the Lord” and let Christ be displayed in your life. As Jesus said, “let your light shine, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father…”