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Psalm 24
Today will be a guided meditation through the 24th psalm. I read this last week in my daily reading, and it stuck with me, so I thought I would share it this week with all of you. As I let this psalm soak into my soul, I started to see it as a song in three parts. It is a song of God’s glory first and foremost, but in the middle of the song rests a beautiful promise of blessing to all who respond honestly to God’s grace.
God Over All
Psalm 24 [ESV]
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
In Genesis, we are told that the earth was given to us to subdue and to fill. We were to take that raw and wild earth and transform the whole of it into the image God gave us in the garden. But the earth does not truly belong to us; it belongs to God. We were to be his image bearers and agents of his glory. This earth, then and now, belongs to God. Why? Because He is the earth’s creator and ours.
God created the earth and everything in it for His glory. But for God, creation is not complete, nor is His glory without us. He is a saving God to those who come to Him for help.
God’s offer of blessing
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.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah
Our clean hands and pure hearts do not earn us a place on God’s holy hill. They are the response of an honest heart that genuinely seeks God. And as they seek God honestly and with a pure heart. They receive God’s blessing and are given what they could never earn: God’s righteousness and salvation.
For years, I read this psalm as if righteousness were a mountain I needed to climb by having the cleanest hands and purest of hearts. But somehow, I managed to miss the line that says righteousness is a blessing that is given to us by God. We don’t earn it, but we need to seek it. God does not force anything on us, but to those who honestly seek Him and Him alone, he gives us the blessing of righteousness and, ultimately, His salvation.
One last thing in this second stanza is worth looking at. Besides seeking God with a pure heart and clean hands, we are told that we must not lift our souls up to that which is false. In the context of ancient Israel, I think this is a snide reference to the false gods and idolatry that were ever-present in their world. But I think this message is a timeless one. Jesus is the truth; following him is not following lies of any kind, no matter who is telling those lies. Sometimes, the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves because those are the ones that are the hardest to shake.
To all those who honestly and wholeheartedly seek God, we not only receive the blessing of righteousness, we receive eternal hope. And that hope is none other than God himself. Our actions and devotion are both the road to God and reflections of the blessing our loving God has given us in Jesus. So we have hope. Not a hope that someday we will finally get our act together, but a hope in a God who created us and the entire world we inhabit.
Our Hope
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!
Selah
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
This week
The takeaway for me this week is to keep my heart fixed on God and only God. There is no hope in this world apart from its creator and sustainer. And there is no hope for me in anything other than God. There are voices in my head and heart and a host of voices in this world that all have one thing in common: they want my attention and, far worse, my allegiance. So this week, I will seek God and God alone. Join me, and bring a friend. Only when the body of Christ is whole can we live and work in the blessedness described in this song as we all wait for the God of Glory to return with Jesus.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Tom PossinToday will be a guided meditation through the 24th psalm. I read this last week in my daily reading, and it stuck with me, so I thought I would share it this week with all of you. As I let this psalm soak into my soul, I started to see it as a song in three parts. It is a song of God’s glory first and foremost, but in the middle of the song rests a beautiful promise of blessing to all who respond honestly to God’s grace.
God Over All
Psalm 24 [ESV]
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
In Genesis, we are told that the earth was given to us to subdue and to fill. We were to take that raw and wild earth and transform the whole of it into the image God gave us in the garden. But the earth does not truly belong to us; it belongs to God. We were to be his image bearers and agents of his glory. This earth, then and now, belongs to God. Why? Because He is the earth’s creator and ours.
God created the earth and everything in it for His glory. But for God, creation is not complete, nor is His glory without us. He is a saving God to those who come to Him for help.
God’s offer of blessing
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.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Selah
Our clean hands and pure hearts do not earn us a place on God’s holy hill. They are the response of an honest heart that genuinely seeks God. And as they seek God honestly and with a pure heart. They receive God’s blessing and are given what they could never earn: God’s righteousness and salvation.
For years, I read this psalm as if righteousness were a mountain I needed to climb by having the cleanest hands and purest of hearts. But somehow, I managed to miss the line that says righteousness is a blessing that is given to us by God. We don’t earn it, but we need to seek it. God does not force anything on us, but to those who honestly seek Him and Him alone, he gives us the blessing of righteousness and, ultimately, His salvation.
One last thing in this second stanza is worth looking at. Besides seeking God with a pure heart and clean hands, we are told that we must not lift our souls up to that which is false. In the context of ancient Israel, I think this is a snide reference to the false gods and idolatry that were ever-present in their world. But I think this message is a timeless one. Jesus is the truth; following him is not following lies of any kind, no matter who is telling those lies. Sometimes, the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves because those are the ones that are the hardest to shake.
To all those who honestly and wholeheartedly seek God, we not only receive the blessing of righteousness, we receive eternal hope. And that hope is none other than God himself. Our actions and devotion are both the road to God and reflections of the blessing our loving God has given us in Jesus. So we have hope. Not a hope that someday we will finally get our act together, but a hope in a God who created us and the entire world we inhabit.
Our Hope
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!
Selah
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
This week
The takeaway for me this week is to keep my heart fixed on God and only God. There is no hope in this world apart from its creator and sustainer. And there is no hope for me in anything other than God. There are voices in my head and heart and a host of voices in this world that all have one thing in common: they want my attention and, far worse, my allegiance. So this week, I will seek God and God alone. Join me, and bring a friend. Only when the body of Christ is whole can we live and work in the blessedness described in this song as we all wait for the God of Glory to return with Jesus.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe