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I will praise you with an honest heart as I learn about how fair your decisions are (Psalm 119:7).

What did David do after he was anointed king of Israel? He went back to his sheep. This shepherding was in his bones, as they say, he remained one all his life. As a different psalmist once sang, \u201c[God] chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them\u201d (Psalm 78:70-72).

In this devotion, I suggest that integrity is a third quality David had. This is part of a short series exploring what it might mean that David was a man after God\u2019s own heart. In the middle of the summer, it offers us an opportunity to allow the Spirit to examine our hearts. We might ask ourselves this question, \u201cAre our hearts turned towards God?\u201d or to use New Testament language, \u201cAre we looking towards Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith?\u201d (Hebrews 12:2).

The online dictionaries define integrity as \u201cthe quality of being honest and having strong moral principles\u201d or \u201cthe state of being whole and undivided\u201d. This appears to fit with what we have been saying about David and would certainly define the word in Psalm 78. Its often been said that someone with integrity acts the same way in private as they do in public.

King Saul did not have integrity in any understanding of the word. When he sinned, he asked Samuel to forgive him and return with him, so that the people would not know that that he been disobedient. When Samuel refuses, Saul gets even bolder and says, \u2018yes, look, I sinned, I confess, so now honour me before the elders and before Israel\u2019 (1 Sam. 15:24-30). David, on the other hand, was willing to confess his sin and take responsibility for it.

Let\u2019s go a little deeper. There is the matter of kingship in Israel. God was Israel\u2019s king. So, when Israel asked Samuel to anoint a human king over them, he is unwilling. God intervenes, giving permission for a king and recognizing that Israel was rejecting Him as their king (1 Samuel 8:7).

God had already anticipated that Israel would do this, and so, through Moses God had given this instruction to a future king, \u201cWhen he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left\u201d (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

There is no record of David ever doing this, however, his many psalms convey a man who loved God\u2019s law. Furthermore, the concern in a human king was that such kings would replace God as Israel\u2019s true king. When David was established as king of Israel, his first official act was to bring the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). He established the worship of God as the central feature of his kingship, clearly telling Israel that her true king was God.

So, we might say, that a person of integrity is someone whose heart is aimed towards God in obedience and worship. But how do we get to such a place? I think Jesus leads us there in his conversation with that woman at the well in Samaria, \u201cGod is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth\u201d (John 4:24).

Jesus is making two points here. We have direct access to God through His Spirit and our own spirit. We don\u2019t need a physical place or objects or people through whom we access God. Further, Jesus is the truth. However, we tend to hide the truth about ourselves from him. Like Saul, we want to make ourselves look better than we are.

In our worship traditions in the Reformed churches, there is often time in the service given to confession. This is good. But I have found that many are distracted by all the other people around them. Even though no one is asking us to say anything publicly, it is still difficult to be honest in a crowd. It may be even more difficult if we are worshipping with family. Further, it often takes longer than the minute given in the service, for us to hear the Spirit pointing out our sin. Confession needs more time in our lives, than the few minutes given to it on Sundays.

Christian integrity is honesty before God about ourselves; to let God see the truth of who we are. Than he forgives and we can receive his grace. How has confession gone in your life during this COVID season? Have you made time for it? Remember, God already knows more about you than you do yourself.\xa0 Trying to hide ourselves from him is a futile exercise. Let him see our sins. Let him extend his grace to us.