Sunday Psalms: Chapters 24-25

Psalm 24:3-4 “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”

It’s interesting to me that these are the two things used to describe purity of heart and cleanliness of hands. If I had written this, I probably would have come up with a long list of rules. After all, isn’t it human nature to create “dos and don’ts”? Yet purity here is summed up in two concepts – love God first, above all else, and live truthfully. In the Old Testament, there were so many rules about how to attain purity. Yet this is what God really wants, isn’t it? Just as in the New Testament the Law is summed up in “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself,” here it’s condensed similarly. True purity comes from letting God reign supreme in our lives and then reflecting Him authentically.

Psalm 25:1-3 “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in You I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in You will be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.”

There’s a certain edge of desperation to David’s words in the first couple verses. It’s almost like he’s saying, “Please, God, let my trust be justified. I’m choosing to trust You; please be as solid as I hope You are.”

I’ve prayed like that before, desperate to trust, even though I have my doubts. Sometimes the act of choosing to trust is all I need to get over my fear. In verse three, then, David has that trust affirmed. I think it’s important to realize that the world will try to shame you. But true shame comes from doing the wrong thing or putting our faith in the wrong person. If my faith is in God, then I won’t be ashamed, because He is exactly Who He says He is, and I can trust fully in that.

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What do you think of these verses? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!