Definition:
"Directed away from what is right or good; perverted.
Obstinately persisting in an error or fault; wrongly self-willed or stubborn."
Men of perverse heart shall be far from me. I wrote many months ago about the use of the word perverse and especially the prefix "per". It connotes something that is very very much like the thing it imitates but not exactly like it.
Hydrogen Peroxide is almost identical to plain water, but the differences are potentially deadly. It looks and smells like water, it tastes almost the same. It's chemical formula is even deceptively similar. But ingesting it in any notable amount will kill you. The similarities make it dangerous.
It's the same here in Psalm 101. Men of perverse hearts aren't necessarily openly evil. They may "look Christian". They may say the right things, speaking fluent Christianese. They might even have the right bumper stickers on their cars, and hold positions on the church board. But they are not what they appear and they are, because of their outward similarity to true Christianity, even more dangerous.
Maybe they are men who try to act as much like the world as they can, and still maintain the facade of a faith walk. Maybe they bend the rules in business, or dismiss their responsibilities as a dad in order to possess "more". Maybe they talk one way around their Christian friends and another way around their non Christian friends. Maybe they hold to a perverse view of holiness. Those who allow the intended end to jutify the means. Those who cheat in business and tell themselves they will give more money in church. Those who use the Bible as a nice book of quotes and not the beacon of absolute truth that the Bible is. Those who look so much like someone I could emulate and admire, but on further examination they are living a lie and they know it. Nobody is perfect...I am not saying we need to eliminate all but the "perfect" among us. But there is a massive difference between someone who is trying to walk the walk and live the life, and someone who is trying to fool me into thinking they are walking the walk and living the life. The danger is when I let them convince me that I can "get away" with less of a sacrifice than my all.
David instinctively knew he wasn't going to be able to influence them to change. He knew it was far more likely that they would pull him down rather than him pulling them up. That's why he says these people will be "far from me" and he makes the bold statement "I will have nothing to do with evil". He wasn't talking about evil, the action, he was referring to evil intentioned people. David made his vow to keep this sort of influence as far away as possible.
I have to try to do the same. I need to fill my place of council and advice and wisdom with Godly men of integrity and faith. Men who live what they believe and who willingly watch their steps so that their life doesn't betray their faith.
Those men will be close to me.
Father God...Help me to take a stand against the deeds of the faithless. Help me not be a jerk about it, but be a real man of God. I don't want to drive those men away like a pompous jerk, but rather, I want to be so deeply in tune with You and with Your Spirit and Your will, that these men don't feel comfortable around me in their faithlessness. Let me distinguish myself as such a man of faith that their faithlessness leaves a noticeable void and they "want what I've got".
Most of all, help me spend so much time in your presence that I am an authentic, Godly man, and not a perversion of who you say I am.
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