Mensa Otabil - How Can We Experience God?
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We’re turning our attention from Psalm 14 to Psalm 15, and we look at the first two verses of Psalm 15: «Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill?» He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. Many scholars believe that David wrote Psalm 15 after he had brought the ark of the Lord to the tabernacle at Jerusalem.
David was a man who had a heart for God. He loved the Lord, and he wanted to be in the presence of the Lord at all times. He knew that even the priests who went to the house of the Lord would later go home; they don’t dwell in the tabernacle forever. They go to do their work and then go home, but David’s desire was truly to be in the presence of the Lord at all times, and he wondered how he could do that.
What kind of person can be in the presence of the Lord at all times? So he asks two questions that he tries to answer throughout the psalm. The first is, «Who may abide in your tabernacle?» The key word to note there is the word «abide.» It is a word that is used to describe a traveler who finds a rest stop or a resting place and stays there to get refreshed and renewed so that he can continue his journey. So the first thing David is talking about is who can find rest in the presence of God, who can abide in the presence of God and find rest for his soul. The second question he asks is, «Who may dwell in your holy hill?»
Now both the tabernacle and holy hill describe the presence of God, but the key word to note here is the word «dwell.» The word «dwell» is different from the word «abide.» The word «dwell» means a settler-somebody who has settled, who is not a stranger, who is a citizen and stays permanently in a place. So at first, he says, «I want to come to your presence, get refreshed, go back, and get refreshed.» But he actually wants to take a second step: he wants to be in your presence constantly; he wants to settle there.
So those are the two questions that David is answering in Psalm 15: «Who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill?» He begins to answer those two questions and talks about three qualities here. First, the person who wants to enjoy the presence of God constantly must walk uprightly; that speaks to moral uprightness-living a morally upright life. It is possible to love God and not live morally. Yes, you would know God is there; you may experience Him off and on, but you will not do what David is talking аbout: dwell in His presence at all times and be refreshed by Him at all times. Your Christian life will be an in-and-out kind of thing, but if you really want to be in the presence of God and have a continuous relationship with Him, the answer is first to walk uprightly.
Then the second thing he says is that the person must work righteousness, which means that the person must be just in his ways and in the way he treats people. You cannot desire to be in the presence of God and treat people shabbily, try to destroy people, or gossip about them. You know, being unfair in your judgment is unacceptable. You have to work righteousness; righteousness must be an activity-something that you do. This speaks to being just and fair in the way you treat people.
The third thing David is talking about is to speak the truth from the heart- not just from the mouth but from the heart. Because many times people say things from their mouths that do not reflect what is in their hearts. In their hearts, they may want to harm you, but with their mouths, they say, «I love you so much.» So David says if you want to be in the presence of the Lord and not be a stranger there, if you want to dwell there, then he starts with these three things that we must do: we must walk uprightly, we must work righteousness, and we must speak the truth from the heart. That’s something to chew on for today.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, I want to experience your presence at all times. Help me to live a life that pleases you. In Jesus' name, Amen.»