Day 10
Read Psalm 24
Eugene Peterson begins his introduction to Genesis with this: “First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God.”
Lent is an intentional time to remember our place in the world. And don’t forget Lent begins with Ash Wednesday when you are gently reminded that “you are dust and to dust you will return.” Nobody really likes to be put in their place. But, knowing that God is God and we are not is actually quite liberating. Psalm 24 is a Psalm that reminds us of our place. “The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it.” That’s fairly clear. The world belongs to God. Not us.
David continues to put us in our place in verse 3, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place?” And then he lists the characteristics of those who can stand before God, “those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.” The question is: who of us has clean hands and pure hearts? Which of us has not put our trust and time and energy in things that are false? No one. None of us. No one can “ascend the hill of the LORD” or “stand in His holy place.”
At least not on our own. David’s question,“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?” only has one answer - Jesus. The gospel is refreshingly inclusive. There are only two groups - (1) a group of one, namely Jesus, and (2) everyone else. It is not good people and bad people. Or smart people and dull people. Or wealthy and poor people. It is Jesus and then the rest of us. Only Jesus has clean hands and a pure heart. But, Jesus, because of his deep deep love for us, was willing to get his clean hands dirty and faithfully ascended the hill of Calvary so that our hearts could be made pure. And so we sing, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
Prayer
Spend some time today praying through what it means for the earth to be the “Lord’s and all that is in it.” The Psalm ends with multiple reminders that God is king. Ask God to show you how you're attempting to be the king rather than letting him be King.
Kommentare