“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth [his] conversation [aright] will I shew the salvation of God.” (Ps 50:23 AV)
David is writing a very important truth here. One he forgets only one psalm later. Psalm fifty-one is his psalm of repentance. He fell with Bathsheba and penned the great psalm of sorrow and restoration. Had he listened to his advice above, Psalm 51 may never have been written. Ordering his conversation aright is another way of saying one should plan out his life to every small choice so that he is doing the right thing. To order is proactive. Not reactive. To order one’s conversation means to put in place a plan. It means to relate one choice with the one before and after it. To order means to use reason and faith to the point a life is lived deliberately. Salvation is promised to those who order their lives in a deliberate manner. Salvation here is not eternal salvation. That would mean David is teaching a works-based salvation. Rather, the salvation promised is a temporal one. Deliverance from consequences of bad choices comes to mind. Rather than dwell in the latter, the LORD simply wants me to meditate on ordering my conversation.
It is funny how even when we don’t know what we are doing, the LORD has a way of providing the best way to accomplish a goal. Just this morning, I went to the hospital to visit with one of our members who just had a baby. This young little girl was born in the children’s hospital of one of our local hospitals. This hospital is not a single building. It is a complex. Children’s is a separate building all to itself. It is not connected to the main hospital. This is the same complex where my wife receives all her cancer care. I have been all around the main hospital. But children’s is a complex institution. I parked in the children’s parking garage. I went down three floors and walked a quarter mile to the front of the hospital. Once inside, it was like navigating a labyrinth. Finally getting to the patient’s room, I was a bit anxious knowing I had to navigate to get out. Coming to her room, I had to go to Children’s main security for clearance. Then take an elevator to a different floor. This elevator was not right next to security. It was through locked doors and down a hall. Each door was locked. I needed to press a button to get from one section to another. I took an elevator down one floor. More buttons. More doors. When I left, I learned just how foolish I had been. The midwife gave me clear instructions. Go right, take the first elevator down to the second floor, and follow the signs to the skywalk. When I exited the skywalk, my car was only one hundred feet from it. I could have used the same way to enter the hospital, but my conversation was not ordered. I lacked information. I didn’t see what the LORD had done for me. Had I trusted this verse, getting to the room would not have been nearly as complicated or cold!
David failed with Bathsheba because he didn’t order his conversation aright. Being the king, he should have been at the field of battle. Rather, he decided to send Joab and sit this one out. Next, when traversing his roof, knowing he could gaze down upon the rooftops of others, a privacy fence would have been a good idea. At the very least, when seeing Bathsheba in the midst of a bath, he should have left his rooftop and put the temptation out of his mind. Too many choices of a wicked kind led to infidelity of David with Bathsheba. Had he heeded the advice of his own hand, David would not have committed such a sin. Thinking ahead and planning keep us from much trouble. Having a plan from the moment we arise to the moment we slumber fills our time with God-honoring activity. It is all in the plan.
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