Psalm 101 GW

Mar 09, 2026

∙ Paid

Jesus said,

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” and “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

In Psalm 101 David the King reflected on being a believer in the private place, when nobody else is watching. He wrote by the Spirit, and in his song we hear the voice of the Lord Jesus. And as with so many of the other psalms, it is sometimes hard to tell when David stops and Jesus begins. David can resolve to do what is blameless and right in his own private life, and he may be able to weed bad actors out of his court, but he cannot police the inward thoughts of others, or the things they say in privacy. How does he know if one of his people slanders his neighbour in secret? He doesn’t.

Jesus does, however. He is the truly righteous one, the Word made flesh, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart of all his creatures.

This psalm seems to cast a vision for what the world would look like if Jesus held total sway. It would not allow evil to develop, for every morning he would rid the city of the Lord of all the wicked; every evil-doer would be cut off. This would be tough on evildoers, of course, but there would not be enough of them around to start a guild, to get their evil established. The people of God would be greatly benefitted by not having to put up with evil every day.

I can hardly even imagine such a day. We live in a land where evil is deep and entrenched in all the corridors of power, and it has overflowed its banks out into the general populace, who seem to love evil and to delight in it. And there is a great proliferation of types of evil. New ways are being found every day to do more evil.

Pray that the Spirit of God would move mightily in this world, that he would bring down every stronghold raised up against him, and that he would fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. He has promised. Ask him to keep his promises.

Here are the lyrics for Psalm 101.