Therefore the Lord repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, which is before His eyes.
David again emphasizes his main point: God has seen and vindicated his conduct in this particular conflict. The phrase “before His eyes” is especially important, because people’s judgment can be mistaken or biased, whereas the Lord’s judgment is true. Being pure before God is more important than gaining people’s approval or being justified by them. A person may make great efforts to convince others that he is right, yet this verse reminds us that the final evaluation belongs to God. If a person’s conscience is clean before Him, he can entrust his case to the Lord’s judgment. At the same time, God’s eyes also see what a person does not notice in himself. Therefore a clean conscience must be joined with humility and self-examination. A person should not present his righteous deeds as merit worthy of salvation. They are the fruit of faithfulness formed by God’s grace. The Lord’s righteous judgment can both defend a person from false accusations and expose his own self-deception.