I will praise you with an honest heart as I learn about how fair your decisions are (Psalm 119:7).

A psalmist sang, "[God] chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them" (Psalm 78:70-72).

We considered obedience and humility. Integrity is a third quality David had that made him a person after God's own heart. We should ask ourselves, "Is my heart turned towards God?" or to use New Testament language, "Am I looking towards Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith?" (Hebrews 12:2).

Integrity is "the quality of being honest and living by moral principles" or "the state of being whole and undivided". But there is more here. Saul would not take responsibility for his sin (1 Sam. 15:24-30). David was willing to confess his sin and take responsibility for it.

In the matter of kingship in Israel, God was her king. But he anticipated that she would want a human king. So, he gave this instruction, "When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law... It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left" (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

There is no record of David writing the scroll. However, his many psalms convey a man who loved God's law. When David was established as king of Israel, his first official act was to bring the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6). He established the worship of God as the central feature of his kingship, signalling to Israel that God was her true king.

So, we might say, that a person of integrity is someone whose heart is aimed towards God in obedience and worship. But how do we get to such a place? I think Jesus leads us there in his conversation with that woman at the well in Samaria, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).

Jesus is making two points here. We have direct access to God through His Spirit and Jesus is the truth. However, we tend to hide the truth about ourselves from him. Like Saul, we want to make ourselves look better than we are.

Christian integrity is honesty before God; to let God see the truth of who we are. Then he forgives and we can receive his grace. Have you made time for confession? Remember, God already knows more about you than you do yourself. Trying to hide ourselves from him is a futile exercise. Let him see our sins. Let him extend his grace to us.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

"May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).