We make choices every day on where to give our attention. Some of those choices are made for us, as we work in different fields and on various projects. But each one of us holds a great deal of latitude when choosing how we focus our minds on any given day.

David, the king and general, followed a couple of principles on the influences he let come before him. First, a word about what to avoid:

I will not look with approval on anything that is vile.

David noticed morally offensive behavior, and he couldn’t stop it across his kingdom, but he could avoid giving tacit approval to those living sordid lives. He pushed such people away, minimizing their influence as he led the nation.

Instead, David looked to fill his retinue with quality people. My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they my dwell with me; the one whose walk is blameless will minister to me. David knew that value of honest counselors and faithful friends.

The company I keep matters, just as what I view matters (even if no one else ever knows). The right people help me turn from the vile towards the splendid ways of the Lord. It always pays off to invest in relationships with those who seek to live blameless lives.

Good advice from a man after God’s own heart.

Psalm 101 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor