I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. 
I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, O Lord, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all Your wondrous deeds.
Psalm 26:5-7

There’s a saying in Spanish: Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres, (Tell me who hang around with and I’ll tell you who you are.)

When we come to know the Lord Jesus we often have a gang of old friends. Sometimes those old friends have stood by us in hard times. They’re “our people,” and we feel comfortable with them. We have history with them.

But at some point we realize that if we’re ever going to get free from the old sinful habits we’re going to need a new set of friends. The old ones are pulling us back into the old ways. We find we aren’t so comfortable any more in “the assembly of evildoers.” 

It’s a hard choice to make, because we care about those people, wicked as they are. We can’t sit with them any more, but we feel that we owe them a certain debt of loyalty.

“I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O Lord”means that I start spending a lot of time at church (that’s where the altar is), hanging out with a new set of friends, doing genuinely innocent things.

Some of the old friends will naturally distance themselves from you when they hear you talk the new way that you do. “Proclaiming thanksgiving aloud and telling all Your wondrous deeds” means you talk about Jesus a lot, and you keep telling them what He’s done, and it drives them nuts.

Some of those old friends, as they see you get free from the old ways, will realize that there’s hope for them, too. All that talk about what God has done in your life and about answered prayer makes them long to find what you’ve found. Pray for them, as you pull away. Maybe they’ll follow you out of the old life, later!

Lord, touch the hearts of my old friends. Let them see what changes You’ve done in me, and fill their hearts with longing for the same. Bless me in my new relationships, with the clean, innocent company of friends who understand. Amen!