God’s justice

With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. - 2 Samuel 22v26-28

This kind of passage regularly intrigues me. At first glance it looks to me like God’s treatment of man is based on man’s actions. He will be merciful to the merciful. He will show himself blameless with the blameless. He will show Himself pure with the pure. He will be shrewd the devious.

I understand the last part where God says that He will save the humble and bring down the haughty. That is a constant theme through scripture. Pride is the thing that keeps man from acknowledging his need of God. God dwells with those of a humble and contrite heart.

I even understand the part that talks about God being shrewd with the devious. That just makes sense. No one can outsmart or outwit God.

What I don’t fully understand is the first few things. Who is merciful enough for God to show mercy? Who is pure enough for God to show Himself pure? Who is blameless enough for God to show Himself blameless? No man apart from God is merciful, pure, or blameless.

The only explanation that I can see and the only one I can come up with, is that these things come about only by faith in God and His mercy, purity, and blamelessness. Man cannot conjure those things up on his own. All of these, on the other hand, are character traits of the believer who has put his faith in God.

Purity, mercy, and blamelessness are not natural traits. They only come when we put our faith in the One who is pure, merciful, and blameless. To those and those alone He will manifest those blessings.