Psalm 24

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5).

O Lord, like in Psalm 15, David comes back to the all-important question: who gets to live with God? Who gets to be saved? In your Word we hear your answer to David’s question: the one who has clean hands, a pure heart, honest lips, and a soul dedicated to God. God, we admit that these descriptions aren’t always the best ways to describe us. We fall short of the love, purity, honesty, and faithfulness to which you have called us. Sometimes we even wonder: after all the wrong I’ve done and all the good I’ve neglected to do, is there still hope for me to be saved? Does God still want me?

Jesus, we thank you that the answer to these questions is yes: there is still hope for us, and you do still want us. Hallelujah! In verse 5, you remind us that our righteousness and salvation come from you. What a gift! Our righteousness, our right standing with God, comes not from ourselves, but from you! As we look at the cross, this becomes all the more evident to us. You took our sin, so that we could be right with God. Despite our sin, you made us righteous before God.

Having been saved by your great mercy, we now look back on verse 4 with different eyes. This isn’t describing the way we earn your grace. No, your grace saves us, and then also transforms us. Your grace is what enables us to all the more live loving, pure, honest, and faithful lives. And one day, when we shall ascend your hill, that transformation will be complete: and we will forevermore be people of clean hands and pure hearts, all to the glory of our gracious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.