The Wisdom Journey

Adopting the Testimony of David (Psalms 24–26)

• Stephen Davey

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Gates lift, questions rise, and the path to God narrows to one clear doorway: grace. We follow David through Psalms 24–26 to ask who can stand in the holy place and discover why the answer isn’t the best performers but the forgiven. From Zion’s ridge to Calvary’s cross, we trace how political hills look mighty but real power rests where God’s presence dwells. Clean hands and a pure heart aren’t trophies we earn; they’re gifts we receive at the foot of the cross, where the King of Glory opens the way.

We then move from access to guidance. David’s acrostic prayer in Psalm 25 becomes a daily rhythm for anyone who knows how quickly hearts drift: make me know your ways, teach me your paths, lead me in your truth. That humble posture doesn’t just sound spiritual; it redirects real choices, protects us from our blind spots, and trains us to seek counsel before crisis. God instructs sinners in the way and leads the humble in what is right, which means there is fresh mercy and new direction for ordinary days and complicated seasons alike.

Finally, we clarify integrity. Far from a corporate buzzword, integrity in Psalm 26 is a relational reality: trusting the Lord today, even after yesterday’s failures. David is not claiming perfection but progression, a present-tense testimony grounded in grace. With practical reflections and a vivid link between ancient gates and a humble King on a donkey, we explore how worship, confession, and obedience shape a credible life. If you’re longing for forgiveness that sticks, guidance you can follow, and integrity that holds under pressure, this conversation will help you take the next faithful step.

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SPEAKER_00:

Your testimony is the story of God's grace in your life and how he saved you from your sins. In Psalms 24 through 26, David shares his testimony. He testifies to how God is the one who makes him righteous. God guides his path. He shares how it's God's grace that causes him to walk with integrity. This is David's personal testimony, but it can be yours. Stephen called this lesson, Adopting the Testimony of David.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, as we set sail in our wisdom journey today, we're at Psalm chapter 24, and this is a psalm where David is asking some familiar questions. Let's take a closer look. Verse 3, David asks this question: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? Now, as you read the Psalms, you're going to come across these two places that David mentions here, the hill and the holy place. They're repeated often. The hill refers to Mount Zion, or simply Zion. The first time you see the word Zion in Scripture is back in 2 Samuel chapter 5 and verse 7. We read there that David took the stronghold of Zion, that is the city of David. So Mount Zion, then, is this range of hills where David's going to build the capital city of Jerusalem. That's Zion. The hill country is rather important real estate. In fact, long before David captured it from the Jebuzites. This was the same place where Abraham, centuries earlier, had been willing to offer up his only son, Isaac. And this is also the place where Solomon is going to build that beautiful temple for the worship of God. But listen to this, beloved, along that same ridge of hills was the place where Jesus would be crucified. He'd be on an altar. That altar would be in the shape of a cross. And we call that hilltop to this day Mount Calvary. That's where the final sacrificial lamb of God came to die for the sins of the world. This is an important ridge of hills, isn't it? Now David not only refers to the hill, Mount Zion, in this psalm, he also refers to the holy place. Now, this is in the same neighborhood, but the holy place refers to, specifically refers to the Temple Mount. The holy place is really a reference to the temple and to the presence of God and the worship of God on this sacred spot. Now, frankly, there's no piece of real estate in all the world as sacred as this range of hills. So throughout the Bible, you're going to read references to the hill and to the holy place. The hill represents political power, the capital city of King David, Jerusalem. And the holy place is a reference to the temple, to spiritual power, the presence of God. So again, the hill represents what we could call a secular power, and the temple represents spiritual power. Now let's remember that it's in the spiritual realm where real power resides. Solomon wrote over here in Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 1 that the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord, and he, the Lord, turns it wherever he will. So God's ultimately in charge. You know, kings and parliaments and congresses, well, they might think they're up there on that little hill running things, but God is ultimately steering everything toward his divine purposes. Now David is asking here in verse 3, who has the right to go up that hill? That is, who can rest in the power of God? Who can go up to that holy place to worship God? And immediately he gives us the answer now here in verse 4. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. David goes on to say in the next verse that the one who can stand in this holy place is going to receive blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. So the clear implication here is that you get clean hands and you get a pure heart, not by being perfect, but by being forgiven. You got to make a trip up Mount Calvary, and you gotta kneel, as it were, at the foot of the cross where Jesus paid for your sin. He's the only one who can clean your hands. He's the only one who can clean your heart and make you righteous. Righteous means you are right with God. Now with that, David's going to break out in a song of triumph throughout the rest of this psalm. Verse 7 here celebrates by singing, Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Now during the earthly days of the Lord Jesus, that passage I just read was quoted by religious leaders on the day following the Sabbath, that is, on the first day of the week. We call it Sunday. And by the way, what happened on a Sunday, a thousand years after David wrote this psalm? Well, here came Jesus mounted on a donkey, which by the way represented a peaceful king, entering Jerusalem, and the people are singing Hosanna to the son of David, and the priests are all in the temple singing what? Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Well, let me tell you, the King of Glory had just come in through those gates. Did any of them back then connect the dots? Well, sadly they didn't. And the singing is soon going to turn into shouting for his death as they cry out, crucify him. They're going to take Jesus up that ridge of hills to the place we call Mount Calvary where he will die. By the way, just as he'd planned, as our substitute. Why? Dying to pay the penalty for our sin. Now we come to Psalm 25, and David begins each stanza here with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is a device that's going to serve as a memory aid for the people. David gives us the theme of this Psalm now here in verse 4. Make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths, lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. You see, David is effectively saying, Lord, unless you teach me, and unless you lead me, I'm going to choose the wrong path. And then David, with that, praises the Lord here in verse 8. He says, He instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. See, David is admitting here that he didn't just sin when he was a young man. He's admitting now that he's older, but he's still a sinner. And frankly, you and I were sinners when we were younger as well, and we're still sinners today. Our hearts get dirty, our hands get dirty so quickly. Sometimes our hearts get dirty before we're even out of the driveway in the morning. We need daily cleansing. We need daily direction, don't we? Well, we come to the Lord for all of that. Now, as we move on here to Psalm chapter 26, David is going to begin here in verse 1 by saying to the Lord, I have walked in my integrity. And near the end in verse 11, he states, I shall walk in my integrity. Basically, what David is saying is, I want this to be my testimony today. I want this to be my testimony in the future that I'm walking in integrity. David knows what it's like to have failed. Now I was curious. So I I searched the word integrity on the internet. And you know what? In less than a second, in less than a second, there were literally 26 million sites where I could go and read on the subject. Now I looked at some of them, and when I did, it became obvious that nobody knew how to how to understand integrity. There was no connection in what I saw between integrity and a relationship with the Lord. And that's exactly how David describes integrity here. Integrity is having a right relationship with God. David illustrates it. He writes further here in verse 1, I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Now David definitely wavered in his life. He isn't claiming perfection, he's claiming progression. You see, at this moment, he's he's simply thrilled to have a testimony of trusting the Lord. Read all of David's Psalms, and you'll find there were times when he wasn't trusting the Lord. Here in this psalm, he is. The question is: what's your testimony today? Not yesterday, today. That's the question. Adopt David's testimony. Make it your testimony today to worship God and rest in the power of God and find cleansing for your heart and your hands through the forgiveness of God. Do that today. William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army in 1870, used to say this you can't make a person clean by washing his shirt. That's pretty good, isn't it? In other words, true cleansing isn't a matter of laundry, it's a matter of the heart, and only Jesus can cleanse your heart from sin. So let me recommend that all of us let's adopt David's testimony as our own. Let's ask for cleansing today, and then declare with David, I will walk with integrity and in a right relationship with God today. Well, with that, we're out of time. Until next time, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_00:

To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.