NOTES for Psa 101

Crying out to God for blamelessness, the psalmist begins his prayer with remarkable words: “I will sing of mercy and judgment; to You, O Lord, I will sing.” For him, mercy and truth are not merely certain aspects of God’s design, nor only attributes of the divine Person, but the Lord Himself. Behind these words stands the great mystery of God’s presence in the world: wherever mercy and truth enter our lives, God Himself enters them.

And as he looks to the Lord, the psalmist rejects all lawlessness, because it becomes abhorrent to him as well. In this the psalmist discerns the meaning of God’s saving action in Christ. God Himself comes to us so that, having seen Him, we might love Him and hate sin.