A Cry of Vindication
Psalms 26:1-2
By Harold D. Dinsmore, M.Div.
Ó2008 Harold D. Dinsmore 

When you were in school, didn’t you just love examination day?  Huh?  I bet you just couldn’t wait to take a test.  No?  I tell you, even when I was prepared for a test and knew the material, I was nervous.  Have you ever taken a test when the whole grade depended on that one final exam?  Oh, how awful it makes you feel – kind of sick, right here in the pit of your stomach.

When I was in school in my younger days, I just couldn’t fathom anyone inviting a teacher to test them – to try them out to see what they knew.  In Psalms 26, we find the Psalmist asking God to test him out.  Any examination, as a rule, is not pleasant.  What about those background checks that many people experience when they apply for certain employment opportunities?  Or even yet those security checks at airports when strangers have to rummage through your personal belongings in search of a bomb or gun?

David actually had the gall to ask God, who is the supreme and thorough examiner, to search his life for any hidden sin or weakness.  Look at the passage for a moment.  “Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.  Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.” Prove me, try me, test me.  He used words full of meaning.  Examine prove me – this could actually be taken to mean put me through the fire.  A process known as burning off the dross, leaving behind a more purified metal.  David prayed for a searching fire, possibly a symbol of the Holy Spirit,  that would burn up all that was contrary to the will of God.