It takes a specific type of person to be capable of standing in the presence of a holy god. One could be forgiven for assuming that David is speaking about his own righteousness as a person, yet it is painfully clear that he doesn’t view himself that way. Interestingly, this passage is less about who David is and more who God is. Notably, despite David’s own difficulties with being righteous, he doesn’t mention these things when referring to the nature of those he deserves to be with God. To do this would only serve to cheapen the truth about God. Instead, he speaks only of God by his own standard and character rather than in contrast to his own. This is an important facet of understanding ourselves in connection with him. God is a being with standards. There is no one like him and there is no one worthy of him. When one speaks of God, one cannot compare him. He is always the other and unattainable. Yet these things are also knowable and rightfully attributed to him. This leaves two things for the reader to consider. First is that God wants us to know him through these things we have come to describe as good. Lastly, there is a question of how we can ever be with him if he is so distant from us. The unsaid answer is that only he can bridge this gap. Only he can ever really be righteous and able to make others righteous. This is why the scriptures say that David had a hope of his own salvation. Not because he knew of Jesus, but because he knew enough about his own depravity and of God’s loving character, that a Messiah was inevitable. He didn’t need to focus on being perfect because he could never be. He just had to allow for God to be perfect. Which in truth is harder than it may seem.