Welcome back to another Wednesday Bible study. Today we are in the book of Psalm chapter 15. This is a psalm of David. David asks a question in verse one and then answers that question in the subsequent verses. It is only 5 verses in length. If you have not done so, I encourage you to take a moment to pray and ask Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you through this passage. Ask Him to open up your spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear what He wants to teach you today. Read through these few verses and then we will study God's Word together.
Verse 1
David asks a question, "LORD, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? In other words, what kind of person, what qualities do they possess, who is able to stay in your holy place? Not just any person can do that. There are some requirements for remaining in the tabernacle of God in His holy hill. God has standards and regulations for whom He allows to live within His presence. What are they? Do you and I qualify? What does it look like to measure up to God's standard? Let's find out.
Let's look at Psalm 24:3-5. This is a sneak peek into this chapter that we will be visiting again in June. It says, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." According to this passage, the requirements are clean hands, pure heart, humble, and honest. Do we meet those requirements? Do we always have pure motives? Are we always humble and honest? Do we always do the things that are right and pleasing in His sight?
David is saying that when we seek to honor God with our life, when we choose to sacrifice praise, to honor God with our choices, and to live a life of integrity, aiming to please God we have the invitation to dwell and abide in God's holy tabernacle in His holy hill. Just so we get the full picture David is going to go in detail about what that really looks like.
Verse 2
David says the first thing is to be a person of integrity, good moral character. Walk uprightly means to deliberately, correctly, and faithfully move forward in the paths that God has already carved out for us. What does it mean to work righteousness? It means we do the right thing. What would God want us to do in the situation we find ourselves in? Are we choosing integrity over popularity? Are we conforming to this world or are we being transformed by the renewing of our mind as we read God's Word?
Ephesians 4:20-25 "But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another." This passage tells us that we have to die to our old nature and old habits. The things we did before we came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is not the same things we ought to be doing now. We once served self and now we serve King Jesus and we should act in accordance with His ways and His laws.
Verse 3
What else must we do to be worthy of inhabiting God's holy tabernacle in His holy hill? In this verse, David addresses how we treat our neighbor. Our neighbor is not just the person who lives next door. Remember when Jesus talks about the Good Samaritan? That story was told by Jesus in answer to the question of the lawyer, "Who is my neighbor?" So Jesus said a certain man went from Jerusalem to Jericho and was mugged. They robbed him, stripped him of his clothes, violently beat him and left him for dead. After some time a priest came by and saw the man laying in this terrible condition and he passed by him on the other side of the road. Another time a Levite came up to him and looked at him but he passed by him on the other side of the road. Then a certain Samaritan saw the man and had compassion on him. He went to the injured man, cleansed and bandaged his wounds, put him on his animal to transport him to the inn and took care of him. The next day the Samaritan had to leave but he took some money and gave it to the innkeeper with instructions to continue to care for the unnamed injured man. He said if the innkeeper spent more than what was given to care for this man he would return and pay the rest of the money owed. Jesus asks, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among thieves?" The lawyer answered, "The one who showed mercy." Jesus said, "Go, and do thou likewise." (Luke 10:25-37)
Anyone in our life is a neighbor: the store clerk, the receptionist, the police officer, the teacher, the CEO, the children, the pastor, the one who lives next door, the friend, the spouse, the stranger. All are our neighbors. David says to abide in God's holy tabernacle we cannot backbite or gossip, nor do evil to our neighbor, or be cruel to them. You may say that is easy, I do not treat people with cruelty or do evil deeds. Gossip is one of the most hurtful things you can do. The wounds that gossip inflicts run so deep and penetrate the heart to the core. It is extremely cruel and evil.
Leviticus 19:16-18 "Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood (life) of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." God made Himself very clear. Do not go from house to house, or from phone conversation to phone conversation, person to person discussing other people. It can be tempting to just talk about it to pray for the need, but that is a slippery slope and it can lead to gossip and we must be very careful. God takes this so seriously because it has wounded the hearts of many and caused a great number of people to be led astray. Let's pray daily for God to guard our mouths. Psalm 141:3 Set a watch (guard), O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. God will answer that prayer and we will not be a talebearer any longer.
Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.This happens time and time again in the churches all across America. I have seen it in big churches and small. Someone takes sides and shares their feelings and thoughts instead of actual facts and before long they are an unrighteous witness raising false reports. The enemy wants division and strife in the church because then he can isolate us and make us feel like we are all alone and forsaken. That is lie and we must not fall for it. Do not be part of the reason anyone is lied on. If we pray that prayer in Psalm 141:3 we will not do these things.
Verse 4
The KJV is not the easiest to read at times. What is verse four saying? The Message Bible says it like this, "Don't hurt your friend, don't blame your neighbour; despise the despicable." That is easier for me to comprehend. Remember when Mordecai would not give reverance to Haman in the book of Esther? Esther 3:2 And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. Haman was an Amalekite and enemy of the Jews. Mordecai did not give reverence to him. When we know someone is in direct violation of God's Word we should not revere them. It is not okay to just go along with the crowd because everyone else says so, or even because a government official says so. God's Word trumps the world's authority.
Leviticus 5:4-5 NIV "or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt --- when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what they have sinned." So no matter if you are promising to do something good or something bad, if you have sinned in that without realizing it, God will use Holy Spirit to start convicting you of that wrong doing. And when you realize that you sinned, you must confess what you have done to God and ask for forgiveness. We all mess up but we must be able to admit the wrong we have done and repent, or turn away from that behavior. Jesus will forgive us if we ask Him to.
Let's be careful to not hurt our friends or falsely accuse someone when we do not have all the information. Let's choose to honor others and respect them. We will have a much better world if all would just do those two simple things.
Verse 5
David ends the chapter with one final thought about who will be able to stand in God's holy place. This verse is dealing with finances. If you say you will do something, then do it, even if it cost you money, even if it means you have to do without some things. Do not take incentives, bonuses, kickbacks, if you have to hurt others to get it. Lend to the less fortunate and do not ask for interest on the loan. Be generous and be kind. In Second Peter it tells us to add to our faith virtue and to virtue add knowledge and then to knowledge add temperance which means abstinence or self-control, and to temperance add patience and to patience add godliness and to godliness add brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness add love. Peter said that if we have these things it makes us useful in God's Kingdom. 2 Peter 1:8-11 "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall never be barren (useless) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and that forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall (stumble): For so an entrance shall be ministered (supplied) unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.David ends with "He that doeth these things shall never be moved." What an incredible promise. How loving of the Savior to allow us to know these truths today? We can read this, hear this, understand this, and if we obey this, we will never be moved. We will have a place in God's Kingdom. When the Psalmist asks, "God, who will live with You in Your holy tabernacle in Your holy hill?" God will answer with your name if you do these things.
God bless you!
~Bridgett Owens
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