entering the presence of God

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3–5)

Psalm 24 was part of the morning prayer reading today in The Little Book of Hours, and for the first time the list David gives us caught my attention. “The hill of the Lord” is the temple (so the footnotes in my NIV Study Bible say), and David is telling us how we can come into the presence of a holy God. As I meditated on the list, I saw that every part of me is considered.

“Clean hands” covers my actions: have I done wrong or right? This question is not so hard to answer. “Pure heart” addresses my motives–these are harder to ascertain. Why am I doing what I do? What am I really after? I’ve learned recently that I cannot always trust my motives, and this should be no surprise; Jeremiah tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things.” When I bless someone, am I acting to give a blessing or to receive praise or credit? When I bring correction, is it to help the recipient or to assert my rights? I’ve found that even with my children, I have to be careful of my motives: what seems on the face of it like a good reason for correction–“the way you behaved is not appropriate”–can really be selfishly motivated–“no one is going to treat me that way!” I have to be vigilant and seek the Spirit’s guidance about my motives.

David next addresses my devotion: “who does not lift up his soul to what is false.” The NIV renders this “who does not lift up his soul to an idol.” Idol captures the idea of misplaced priorities, but I like the phrase what is false better. I can let myself off the hook pretty easily when I read about idolatry, because the first thing that comes to mind are pagan statues and altars, and I know I don’t have any of those around. What is false helps me to remember that this is about anything that takes the place of God. If I think of my soul as my mind, my will, and my emotions, then I can ask myself some questions:

• What is my mind focused on? What am I lifting up in my thoughts?
• What am I directing my will toward? What am I lifting up in my choices?
• What stirs my emotions? Am I finding satisfaction or fulfillment in God or something else?

Another way to think about this is priorities: is God first, or has He been moved down on my list?

Finally, David addresses my words: “does not swear deceitfully.” Swear relates to devotion and priorities–to what am I promising or pledging myself? But it also remind me of my speech in general: am I speaking truth or falsehood, are my words life or death?

Many of us are used to doing this sort of inventory before going to church on Sunday, particularly if we grew up taking the Lord’s Supper every week; we’ve been trained to examine ourselves because we don’t want to partake in an “unworthy manner.” And that’s good. But I think David’s list is equally useful as we leave home and engage with the world. I want to be in God’s presence all the time, not just during church or my quiet time. The world needs to see people who are in the presence of God as they move about at work, the grocery store, driving–everywhere. This psalm is a good way to start the week.

Tagged as: David, emotions, mind, priorities, Psalms, self-examination, soul, will, words