2 Samuel 22:26–31

“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
With the pure You will show Yourself pure;
And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
You will save the humble people;
But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

“For You are my lamp, O LORD;
The LORD shall enlighten my darkness.
For by You I can run against a troop;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

The first paragraph illuminates the point just made about righteousness by faith. Believers aren’t perfect, but there are some markers. Believers tend to be merciful, blameless, pure, humble, not devious, not haughty.

God’s favor towards the faithful comes out in His response to these characteristics.

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.” — James 4:6b

So, in a way, the righteousness of faith is circular. Part of the righteousness of faith is knowing that your righteousness is from faith—the recognition that you lack self-righteousness.

That’s humility, which is a kind of righteousness—the kind that God likes.

The second paragraph makes a beautiful connection. The LORD is David’s lamp, which shall enlighten my darkness.

The Hebrew particle that begins the next sentence (כִּ֥י, key) means, “that, for, when, by, because.” The next word (בְכָ֖ה, b-kha) means, “in you” or “by you.” Thus, “For by You” is accurate.

In other words, there’s a causal connection between the enlightenment and David’s ability to run against a troop or leap over a wall.

But note that the connection is from the abilities to the enlightenment, not the other way round (in this passage anyway.)

That is, the blessings (abilities) David received from the LORD enlightened him (opened his eyes).