Provocative Devotion: Psalm 15

O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
    Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

² He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
    and speaks truth in his heart;
³ who does not slander with his tongue
    and does no evil to his neighbor,
    nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
⁴ in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
    but who honors those who fear the Lord;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵ who does not put out his money at interest
    and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

The hope and promise of dwelling for all eternity in the presence of The Living God, beholding His beauty and glory, worshiping Him with utmost delight, basking in His holiness, it stirs my heart as beyond description. To stand in awe of God, to fall prostrate before Him. I long to do this out of gratitude for the endless love He poured out for me on the Cross when Jesus suffered and died, rose to life, ascended to heaven, and promised to return on day for me.

I can only read and appreciate this Psalm in the light of the Gospel, the work of Christ that by faith secured my salvation. If I read this Psalm without the benefit of the Gospel I find myself depressed and shaken. Who will dwell on God’s holy hill? Only he who walks blamelessly and does right. I am not that man. I am a sinner, beset by my own weaknesses and flesh. Only Jesus walked in perfect righteousness always doing what is right in the eyes of the Father. I could never, and you could never strive with enough intensity to be righteous in our own strength. We are doomed to never set foot on God’s holy hill.

But as Paul cries out in his Letter to the Romans, THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST MY SAVIOUR! It is only in Christ and because of Christ that I can be considered righteous. He has granted to me the benefit of His righteousness and because of that I will one day walk on that holy hill. Not because of my own efforts at perfection but because of His perfect love and sacrifice.