"O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 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; 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."(Psalm 15)
This morning during a time of devotion, the question of who will abide in the Lord’s presence came to mind. With the current pandemic, racial tensions in our nation, and the upcoming election, I began to wonder how many of us are asking important questions such as this. In many ways, some people have. It would be easy to brush it off and move on, but as a follower of Jesus Christ, the question sticks to my mind like bubble gum to the bottom of a sneaker.
I would like to address this from what the Scripture says.
Who
In the Psalm, David poses the thought of abiding with the Lord in two questions:
- Who shall sojourn in your tent?
- Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
As I read the text, I was reminded of the tent of meeting and mount Horeb where Moses talked with the Lord and received the Ten Commandments. Both the tent and the hill were the place where God would dwell and engage with mankind in those moments. What stood out to me was that these places are not an ordinary place but sacred. Not just anyone could approach God, and those who were called by Him, typically were told to remove their sandals (see Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15; Acts 7:33).
"Those who are called, those who are holy, by God's standard, receive an invitation, to be with Him.
I look at how our society has been affected by the opinions of those who have influence or seem to hold more weight than the “average joe/jane.”. Particularly at how those opinions have framed the worldview of our generation. The daily interactions on social media and with television, have began to define a standard of living that all of society should live by. Contrary to that frame of thought, believers’ are to be different. In James 3:11, we are told that our lives should reflect a new nature. Our lives should reflect the very life of Christ.
You may ask, so should we be hermits?Live on the outskirts of society? By no means. We should indeed engage our culture nevertheless, just because we are in the world does not mean we are a part of it. Christians should embrace truth in our hearts, not slander, or do evil against our neighbor. I also believe it will serve us well to not compromise with a sweet little “it’s okay” when someone does something detestable and blatantly immoral.
It is by our good works that men will glorify our Heavenly Father. Consequently, when an opportunity arises to extend money to someone in need, don’t lend it out with interest. When you recognize injustice, speak up, don’t keep silent. When we do this, we won’t be moved.