At first, it comes across as kind of arrogant . . . kind of “holier-than-thou” like . . . kind of delusional, actually. It says that David wrote Psalm 18 as a song to the Lord “on the day when the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.” And in the course of David’s declaration of his love for the Lord (v.1) . . . as part of his account of God’s mighty hand displayed on David’s behalf . . . in the midst of this declaration of God’s majesty and might . . . David seems to turn the limelight on himself and do a bit of self-promotion with a double declaration of “my righteousness” . . .

The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He rewarded me. . . . So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.   (Psalm 18:20, 24 ESV)

So I read this and realize that I know some things David may not have had clearly on his radar . . . that there has been some additional revelation since the time of Israel’s shepherd king. I’m reminded that there is “none righteous, no not one” (Rom. 3:10) . . . that, before a holy God, man’s best and most “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isa. 64:6). So, though David might be considering the integrity of his own track record as the basis for God’s favor . . . there must be something more than simply what David has done, or not done, which compels the God of heaven to delight in him (18:19b).

No doubt David sought to be a righteous man . . . in the matter of not raising his hand against God’s anointed, Saul, his hands were clean . . . that he kept the ways of the LORD and determined not to depart from God even when the going got tough is clear (18:21). David was a lover of the Word . . . a seeker of the Way . . . fearing God and determined to keep himself blameless before Him (18:22). But if David’s righteousness before the Lord was a result of the good stuff he had done . . . what happens when he falls into the bad stuff . . . can anyone say, “Bathsheba?”

No doubt, the LORD delighted in David . . . even knowing that the king of God’s choosing would become an adulterer and a murderer. So what’s the real claim of righteousness that David had? What’s the true foundation for righteousness that any man or woman has? It’s the claim of Abraham . . .

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”   (Romans 4:3 ESV)

That’s how David, the less than perfect man, the king who would crash and burn, could appeal to his righteousness as the basis for God’s favor. Though David may or may not have fully understood it, his righteousness was an imputed righteousness . . . it was the righteousness of Another credited to his account . . . not on the basis of his lack of failure, but on the basis of his abiding faith. Though King David could not have imagined it, this imputed righteousness was the righteousness of another King . . . the Heir of David’s throne . . . He who came first as a spotless and sacrificial Lamb . . . come to take away the sin of the world . . . come to impart His righteousness and nature to those who would receive Him by faith.

That was David’s righteousness. Praise God, that’s my righteousness!

By the grace of God . . . for the glory of God.