Who May Abide?
O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy Hill?
He who walks with integrity and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.
He does not slander with His tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend.
Psalm 15:1-3
I was reading this Psalm today and my heart echoed it in prayer as I started asking God who is able to live and abide with Him? The answer here in the Psalm is a little disheartening. The person that may abide with God is the one who is wholly righteous, blameless, and holy. The one who may abide with God is the one who keeps the law of God. That person is not me. That person is not you…
But that person is Jesus. He was and is perfectly righteous and blameless. He is the one that may abide and live with God.
As I thought about this, I was realizing that if you stop there it still leaves you and I ‘”out of the tent” so to speak.
The invitation of Jesus in John 15 is so wonderful and beautiful when paired with this Psalm:
Abide in me, and I in you…
John 15:4
Here is what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and mind as I reflected on these things;
I know that you can’t abide and live with God because of your unrighteousness, but because of my righteousness, I can. I can dwell with God…come abide IN me. Let me abide IN you. Then together we will dwell with the Father. I have made a way for you to dwell with the Father again…but you have to abide IN me to be WITH the Father. I truly am the only way for you to be reconciled back to Him…
Nothing new, but for me at least, it was a powerful and sweet reminder of the truth of the Gospel. Jesus’s invitation is overwhelmingly good…especially considering I really have nothing to offer in return.
Praise to Him who has made a way for us!
