This brief but poignant psalm presents a picture of a true citizen of Zion, one who is travelling on to the city of God, where he will dwell with Him forever. The psalm may be said to be ethical rather than evangelical; it tells us what a Heavenly Citizen is like rather than the way to become a Heavenly Citizen. The psalm might well be entitled, “Practical Christianity”.
Psalm 15:5c: “He who does these things shall never be moved.”
Read v. 2. The thought contained in the word “blameless” is not that of perfection but of being without blame. Look up Philippians 2:15. We shall never be sinless down here, but we are to be blameless, harmless and without rebuke, that is, irreproachable. Notice that it is our character that is to be blameless; our character is what we are in God’s sight – what we are in our heart (v. 2). We are to be blameless both in what we do (“walk”) and in what we say (“speak“). How is this possible? The reality of Philippians 2:15 is in Philippians 2:13!
Compare v. 3 with Mark 12:31. The test of our love to our neighbors has to do with our tongue and our ear – what we say about them and what we hear about them. God’s ideal man will be very slow to say and very slow to hear anything harmful about another. In Leviticus 19:16, the talebearer is likened to a peddler who goes from house to house selling his wares. How solemn to “sell” friends and fellow believers! Look up 2 Thessalonians 3:11 and 1 Timothy 5:13. Beware of being a busybody – see James 1:26. Psalm 141:3 is a good prayer to pray.
In the first part of v. 4 we have a negative and a positive description of the right kind of companions to have. We are constantly surrounded by worldly and ungodly people, but we are not to make them our bosom friends. We cannot be true to God if we court the friendship of ungodly people. “The friendship of the world is enmity with God” (James 4:4). We cannot serve two masters, God and mammon (Luke 16:13). How bad can be the influence of a bad friend; but how good can be the influence of a good friend! A great man was asked the reason for his success, and he replied, “Well – I had a friend!” So, “make friends of God’s children!
He always keeps his promises; he is absolutely trustworthy. Look at the last part of v. 4. This means that if we make a solemn promise and then later discover that we have promised something that is to our own disadvantage, we will keep our word, and rather than break our promise we will be the losers. God will always honor us in such a case (1 Samuel 2:30; Matthew 6:33). This is certainly not the world’s way of doing things, but it is God’s way, and therefore it must be our way. It is very sad when a Christian breaks his word and cannot be trusted.
v.5 ends with the affirmation that faithfulness results in an unshakeable lifestyle. Living in a pagan society comes with great pressure to conform, but:
