In Other Words for May 11

"A sentence from Psalm 101 has been both challenging and convicting for me: 'I will walk in my house with blameless heart' (Psalm 101:2, NIV). When God speaks to me about being more loving, this verse reminds me to make application in my family first -- and then to others. It forces me to ask, 'Am I more spiritual, more loving, or more fun somewhere else? Who gets my best -- my family or others?"
~Jean Fleming
from "A Mother's Heart: A Look at Values, vision and Character for the Christian Mother"
I don't know if I can get the same thought from that verse, in all honesty. When I read Psalm 101 in its full context I receive a much different interpretation of that sentence. And while I know this is supposed to be from the quote, I can't help but read the chapter and come up with something entirely different, but perhaps, in a more expanded view along a similar line.

Psalm 101

1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.
3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.
4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.
5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.
6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.
8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.

So, my interpretation is this:

1 I will sing of your love and justice;
to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.
I will rejoice, God, in Your love and in Your righteousness. I will praise You because you are always fair, always just and never with malice or unfairness – even though we cannot understand at the time.

2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life—
when will you come to me?
I will walk in my house
with blameless heart.

I will do my very best to live a life where nobody can blame me for wrong doing, for behaving apart from what Your commands are. I will try my very hardest, with Your help, to not carry in my house anything that could cause strife or anger or hurt to the relationships of spouse to spouse and mother to children. I will try my very best to be a Proverbs 31 woman , not only in my house, but outside of it so that I can bring honor to my house. Will You be there, where I can feel You when I need help with this? Will I be able to know You are with me?

3 I will set before my eyes
no vile thing.
The deeds of faithless men I hate;
they will not cling to me.

I will not look at anything or allow anything to settle into my mind that might bring discord or dishonor to my life, my family, my relationships or my walk. I will not abide by the actions of the hypocrites who claim one thing but do another. I will not follow in their footsteps nor will I allow them to attach themselves to me.

4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with evil.

People who deliberately do wrong, who constantly exhibit a lifestyle with which I am not comfortable being around, people who look to the profane and the wicked and let it run their life, I will turn from them, I will not allow them to color my life, my outlook or my world as it is so contrary to what I should be exhibiting when I follow Your leadings.

5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.

When someone speaks unjustly about someone else and backstabs I will not stand for it. When someone is two-faced, I will not partake of the same for who can trust one who talks bad about others but is sweet as honey to their face? Whoever is greedy, vain, arrogant, proud, elevates themselves above others, treats others as beneath them, I will not spend even an ounce of time around them for that behavior is wrong and it is behavior that You hate.

6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he whose walk is blameless
will minister to me.

I will keep those who keep Your word and commandments, those who truly love You with all their heart, in my company, for they are few and far between these days. I will seek them out so that I may fellowship with them. Those who are walking rightly and who are walking on Your path and keeping their eyes on You I will look to them to shepherd me, counsel me, comfort me, advise me.

7 No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.

I will not allow false people to stay in my house. I will not allow liars, cheaters or those who seek personal gain through manipulating the goodwill of others to be part of my household or friends. I abhor lying as You do, so therefore I will not allow anyone who cannot be trusted to tell the truth or be honest to be around me or my family.

8 Every morning I will put to silence
all the wicked in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer
from the city of the LORD.

Every morning I will pray for Your judgment to be upon the wicked, to be upon those who seek to destroy the nation who follows You, I will defend You and Your Word to those who seek to destroy either one in word and deed. I will not let those who intentionally do wrong and evil to inhabit and infiltrate Your church (since the City of the Lord is Jerusalem and that is an ocean away) and I will support and defend the city of the Lord (and its nation – Israel) against those who would seek to corrupt and destroy it.

Anyway, I hope that you were able to follow along with the method to my madness. I actually got quite a bit from going through this chapter verse by verse, a lot more than I would have with just one part of it and that's what In Other Word's Tuesday's are about is each individual interpretation, even though some (mine for today) are kind of off the beaten track. LOL!

For more perspectives on this In Other Words quote, please visit our hostess this week, Loni.