2 Samuel 22:26 - God is Faithful to the Faithful.

2 Sam. 22:26: God is Faithful to the Faithful.

2 Samuel 22:26 (KJV)  With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself
merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

2 Samuel 22:26 (NIV)  "To the faithful you show yourself
faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

2 Samuel 22:26 (CWR)  The Lord is loyal to those who are loyal;
He does good to those who do good.

God's rewards are conditioned by man's attitude toward Him and
his conduct toward his fellow men. However, the experience of Job
illustrates that there may be apparent exceptions to this general principle.
Because of the involvements of the great controversy between Christ and
Satan, affliction is at times permitted to come upon the righteous in
spite of their righteousness. [SDA Commentary]

How could David claim to be blameless? (22:24)
David wrote this long before he'd committed the sins of adultery
and murder (v. 1). Had he written it later, however, he still might
have claimed to be blameless - something quite different from the
claim to be sinless. When he sinned, David repented and confessed his
sin. [Quest SB]

    Not many people can say with David, "I have obeyed the law
of the LORD." Yet that should be the desire of every disciple of
Jesus Christ. We have the assurance of eternal life when we can say we
have by God's grace and power kept all of his commandments. A person
who claims to be a Christian but does not follow the example of
Christ and keep his commandments is deceiving himself.
    Later David would commit two grievous sins that would
blemish his perfect record. This serves as a warning to each of us, who
have been saved by grace and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, that we
also can fall into temptation.
    We too, like David, can have the joy of our salvation
restored and once more experience the presence and power of the Holy
Spirit in our lives, enabling us to live in obedience to the laws of
holiness and righteousness recorded in God's Word. [Daily Devotional
Bible re 2 Samuel 22:22, 23]

    How do you respond when you have failed God - and you know
it? Do you find yourself running to Him ... or from Him?
    In the closing days of David's life, he ordered a census of
his troops - a census motivated by pride, not necessity ... a census
which angered God and forced David to select his own punishment.
    In most pagan religions today, the emphasis is on appeasing
- rather than approaching - an angry god. But notice David's
reaction after ordering his sinful census.
    He knew his actions were wrong and that he deserved the
chastening of the Lord. But he saw more mercy in God than in man. And so he
responded, "Let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are
great: and let me not fall into the hand of man" (24:14). Even in the
midst of chastening, the arms of the Lord are the safest place to be,
and David knew it.
    Pain is never pleasant, because pain hurts. But there is a
pain that comes from your Father in heaven who cares too much to
allow you to sin with impunity. Read Hebrews 12:5-11 - and thank God
for His chastening in your life. It's a sure sign you are His child.
[Your Daily Walk SB]

    The Master ... gives us the perfect ideal of human life in a
short phrase, ... "the things that please him." ... He says, "I do
always the things that please him." ... We have the revelation of the
secret by which He has been able to realize the ideal, to make the
abstract concrete, to bring down the fair vision of divine purpose to the
level of actual human life and experience, and the secret is declared
in the ... words: "He that sent me is with me; my Father hath not
left me alone."
    The perfect ideal for life, then, is that I live always in
the realm of the things that please God; and the secret by which I
may do so is here unfolded - by living in perpetual, unbroken
communion with God: communion with which I do not permit anything to
interfere. Then it shall be possible for me to pass into the high realm of
actual realization....
    Here is my life. Now, the highest realm for me is the realm
where all my thoughts, and all my deeds, and all my methods, and
everything in my life please God.... Ah, that is life! That is the ideal!
G.C. Morgan [Spirit Filled Life Devotional SB re John 8:28-30]

David acknowledged God's faithfulness to those who trust in Him
(vv. 26-37).... God is faithful in keeping his promise to bless those
who keep "the ways of the LORD." When I was a child I stood in the
yard of my uncle's farm home and watched rain pour down on a field
just across the road, while I remained perfectly dry. What David is
saying is that by obedience we cross the road and find showers of
blessing. God's blessings are always being poured out. Obedience puts us
in the place where the blessings flow. [The 365-Day Devotional
Commentary]

The only sure way to keep fear out of living is to keep a
respectful fear of God in our lives, which means to maintain a reverent
attitude toward His place and influence in the scheme of things. This
brand of fear is a healthy ingredient, a deterrent to want, a spur to
courage and confidence, an insurance against loss, a source of comfort
and understanding at any age. Eugene Asa Carr [Passages Of Life SB]

    We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our
conscious contact with God, as we understood him, praying only for
knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.
    In the past we used our addictions as a hiding place when
life became overwhelming. Now that we are in recovery, life can at
times feel even more overwhelming. We'll need a new place of refuge to
escape the storms and find protection....
    There will always be times when we feel the need for a safe
place to run and hide. God can be that hiding place. When we were in
distress, "trapped and bound by hell and death," we called to God, and he
brought us to where we are today. He's always there, ready to shield and
protect us whenever we call on him. [Life Recovery SB]