Reading… and Thinking

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
   Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
   and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
   and does no evil to his neighbor,
   nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
   but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
   who does not put out his money at interest
   and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.

— Psalm 15 (ESV)

This is one of those passages (there are several) that tell us exactly what God expects of us, if we want to be His. Seems like it would be a good idea to pay attention!

First of all, note that there are two aspects to living with God. The first is “sojourn in your tent”. The Hebrew carries the idea of temporarily living with someone. That would be this life, right now. The second is “dwell on your holy hill”. The Hebrew here indicates permanent residence. That’s the kingdom. We want to do both, don’t we? We want to sojourn with God now, and dwell with Him forever.

Look over the rest of the psalm, and carefully consider each phrase. This short poem was not slapped together in a couple of minutes. The fact that God’s requirements have been condensed into so few words means that each phrase is packed with important content. It will take some thinking about each one to get the full meaning.

I’ll leave the main work to your own contemplation, but will comment briefly on a few words:

• The word for “slander” indicates saying negative things behind someone’s back, whether what you say is true or not.
• “Vile” and “despised” are from the same word. The idea is that you recognize a vile person as being vile. Not “practicing an alternate lifestyle”, not “disadvantaged” in his or her upbringing, not “marching to the beat of a different drummer”. Vile. (Which doesn’t mean unsavable!)
• Putting out money at interest would apply to any way in which we take advantage of another’s need.
• Taking a bribe would apply to any dishonesty, any twisting or bending of what is right, for the sake of our immediate comfort or advantage.

If you’re honest with yourself in considering this psalm, you will recognize that there are ways in which you fall short. These little phrases can be a help to you! They can easily be memorized. They can be posted on your refrigerator or anywhere else that you’ll see them and be reminded.

Will you make the small time investment, to commit to memory what the Lord requires of you? Do you truly want to sojourn with him, and ultimately dwell with Him?