GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 29 ~ ~ Ps. 24:1-7 ~ ~ “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. 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. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”
As we saw yesterday, He degraded Himself for you, and now He wants to lift YOU up to His Holy Hill to see partially what He sees.
He’s inviting you to the Holy Hill with Him!!!!!! He wants to instill in You a vision of how He sees the world and people He created!!!! What a magnificent gift!!!! I can think of nothing more desirable than to see through the eyes of the King of Glory!!!!!!
But, that takes a long time, and can’t be done without obeying Our Lord.
Vs. 4 says that (the one who will ascend the Holy Hill, is) he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” “Well,” you say, “that leaves me out”….It leaves all of us out…none of us have led a life like that , but, vs.5 says “He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”……..There we have that salvation and forgiveness promise again….way back in the Book of Psalms!!!! He will forgive our past sins, and give us the power to lead a better life.
Remember in Vs. 4, the word “vanity”? That is the key to a life of fellowship with the King of Glory…..of spending more time on the Holy Hill and seeing through the eyes of the King of Glory.
Vanity comes from the word “vain”…meaningless…..useless…..think about how much time we spend uselessly? TV, Movies, games….all useless in our spiritual walk. God doesn’t have anything against us having fun. Jesus had fun when He was on earth. In fact, He will join you in good, clean fun. What He is saying is that our primary concern should be growing in our ability to hear from Him. This means spending time talking to Him and listening for Him to talk to us within our spirit…this all takes time with Him and in the Bible. He speaks through His Word.
Vs. 7 says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of Glory shall come in.”……What are the gates and doors, and how do we open them for Him?
The gates are the parts of our life that we thought God was in, that we prayed about, but we left some of the blockage up. In those situations, we can see Him through the gates, but we don’t want to QUITE open ourselves completely to Him and His authority. We console ourselves that He is a part of it, and leave it at that, but truthfully, He isn’t able to actually “come in” because the gate is still there.
Doors are those areas of our life and heart that are completely closed to Him. They could be a habit that He wants us to quit, or a relationship that He knows is not good for us, or the way we spend our free time….maybe in ‘vanity’……..these are called “everlasting doors”….meaning they’ve been there for a long time…maybe all our lives, and, if not opened, may stay with us for eternity………..
The only way to ascend into the hill of the Lord —the King of Glory— is to lift up the gates, and open the everlasting doors…..and let the King of Glory come in!!!!! Note that it says he “shall come in”…not maybe, but this is a promise…if we do our part.
If you’re having a hard time with the words, try reading the very next Psalm…Ps 25.…a wonderful prayer that King David prayed………Let the Lord show you how to make it your prayer………………….
So, now who is the King of Glory to you? My prayer is that He is the Lord of your life, and the Lover of your soul.