Impudent, insolent, impertinent, and arrogant. Are these accurate accusations against David, the author of this psalm? Twice he proclaims to the Lord God, “I have led a blameless life.” (1, 11) Yet, in the previous psalm, he pleads with the Lord for the forgiveness of his many sins and rebellious ways. (25:7, 11, 15) Is a man mentally balanced when he recognizes his repetitive sins, asks for forgiveness, and then claims, “I have led a blameless life?”
“I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.” David is true when he makes this claim. Though his sins are well documented for every generation for three thousand years to read and study, so is his unfailing trust in the Lord. Psalm 22 is the closest he came to stepping into doubt of the Lord. And yet that is one of the most prophetic poems of the Lord Jesus’ suffering, resurrection, and second coming.
David, in making the claim of innocence is expressing one of the mysteries of faith in Jesus; the power and completeness of God’s forgiveness. The Lord God proclaims, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25) The author of the letter to the Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:34b, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
Jesus’ words which are often quickly reviewed and easily forgotten express the heart of David’s claim, “I have led a blameless life.” Jesus told them, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” (John 13:10) When God cleaned by sin from my soul it was like washing filth off my body. That mud is gone and forgotten. Sure, new mud attaches to my feet. But that too Jesus will wash off when I repent and ask. My muddy feet are clean. The mud is gone and forgotten.
So the mystery of faith that sprouts the claim, “I am blameless” is rooted in the rich depths of the forgiveness of Christ. What God has forgotten, I forget except to proclaim to others the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus. Oh, the matchless grace of Christ. “…to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:7-8)
