O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners…
Psalm 26:8-9 ESV
Sometimes, David’s apparent arrogance is stunning. But then, sometimes, so is his humility. Sometimes, David claims ‘unwavering’ trust in God and demands vindication for his integrity. Sometimes, he admits to deep-seated sinfulness, and sings heart-broken prayers for forgiveness. So much like us?
That the Holy Spirit inspired David to write songs in both these moods and kept them for our encouragement in Christ, indicates, I suppose, that our human nature, even after it is redeemed by grace, through faith in Jesus, still retains the distinguishing marks of the old along with all the signs of the new, the fruit of the same Holy Spirit who works within us.
Charles Spurgeon suspected that David, even feeling at his best, feared that God might find him indistinguishable from the worst of sinners and sweep him away with them.
‘Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, “What if at the end my sins should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?” He recollects his present unfruitfulness–so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, “Gather not my soul with sinners.” Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had–the outward walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ’s sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” If, then, thou art like God’s people, thou shalt be with God’s people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are his forever, and where he is, there must his people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!’
Spurgeon Morning and Evening
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV
Singing in Babylon 
Don’t sweep my soul away…
O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners…
Psalm 26:8-9 ESV
Sometimes, David’s apparent arrogance is stunning. But then, sometimes, so is his humility. Sometimes, David claims ‘unwavering’ trust in God and demands vindication for his integrity. Sometimes, he admits to deep-seated sinfulness, and sings heart-broken prayers for forgiveness. So much like us?
That the Holy Spirit inspired David to write songs in both these moods and kept them for our encouragement in Christ, indicates, I suppose, that our human nature, even after it is redeemed by grace, through faith in Jesus, still retains the distinguishing marks of the old along with all the signs of the new, the fruit of the same Holy Spirit who works within us.
Charles Spurgeon suspected that David, even feeling at his best, feared that God might find him indistinguishable from the worst of sinners and sweep him away with them.
‘Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, “What if at the end my sins should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?” He recollects his present unfruitfulness–so little grace, so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, “Gather not my soul with sinners.” Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had–the outward walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ’s sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like. “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” If, then, thou art like God’s people, thou shalt be with God’s people. You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are his forever, and where he is, there must his people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!’
Spurgeon Morning and Evening
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:19-23 ESV
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