I wash my hands in innocence
and go around your altar, O LORD,
proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.
Comment: This passage is in a sense foreign to me and my thinking. A church, while very special is nothing like the centre of life that the tabernacle was in David’s time. Christians understand that Jesus was the final and perfect sacrifice for sin, making the altar and the endless sacrifices of the Old Testament unnecessary. Nevertheless I see highlighted several things which are to be my way of life. Such things as – Innocence before God; Love of God and a vision of His glory; fleeing evil and walking in integrity; steadfastness in standing on the ‘level ground’ of God’s truth; preparedness to speak aloud of God’s goodness!
Prayer: Help me to live the ideal which in my mind I see so easily but often fail to act out in daily living.
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for your comments on this Psalm. The Tabernacle, and then the Temple would have been such a holy place for the worshippers who came to give God their praise. We seem to have created a worship place where we talk to each other on arrival and there often appears to be very little thought, or any time given to praying before the Service. When I went to Church as a young child with my parents and younger sister, there was quietness before and during the Service, and talking in Church was definitely frowned upon. I wonder if today we have lost something of the awe and wonder of coming to worship God? God bless you.
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