Unashamed Faith

We live in a world where biblical standards of behaviour are often ignored and even defied. Those in authority allow, encourage, and sometimes even require, what is contrary to God’s revealed will. Christians may feel intimidated when it comes to presenting a Christian point of view, especially if it’s to someone in authority. David, of course, was himself a king. He could speak to other kings as an equal. But almost all of them didn’t share his faith in God.

A little word is left out of most of our English translations of this verse. The Hebrew text is ‘And (or then) I will speak…’ This links it to what he’s just said in the previous verse about his personal security founded in a life of obedience to God’s instructions for godly living. And the Hebrew word for ‘regulations’ covers the truths that we believe as well as the commands that we try to obey. Like every one of us, David failed.

A godly life will never be one of perfection. But it is one of being quick to recognise sin and failure, to repent, and receive God’s forgiveness. It’s a life marked by a living relationship with a God who looks for obedience but also removes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). David can speak from personal experience. He can talk about God’s revealed standards of behaviour as well as about the reality of sin and forgiveness.

We’re not all called to be evangelists in the sense of talking to lots of people about our faith. We share our faith by living it as much as by talking about it. And God wants every one of us to live in a way that truly reflects the fact that we have a genuine relationship with Him through Jesus. We’re not ashamed of what we believe so we won’t compromise how we behave because we’re afraid of ‘being different’, of ‘not fitting in’.

I once heard a story about a Christian man who was employed as a personal assistant. His employer went into the next room and said, ‘If anyone phones, tell them I’m out’. Soon after, the phone rang, and the assistant said something like Mr…. is busy at the moment’. ‘I told you to say I’m out!’ his employer shouted from the next room. The assistant answered, ‘Sir, if I will lie for you, how do you know I won’t lie to you?’. That, I think, is ‘speaking about God’s regulations and not being ashamed’.