Ps 15:1-3 15:1 LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
Who are fit for the tabernacle? Honest men and women. The psalmist does place a requirement upon us for upright living but we must understand the nature of this requirement. Upright living is not perfect living. We are told by Jesus that we must be like children to come to Him. But little children are not perfect. They are some of the greatest offenders of pettiness, lack of kindness, stinginess, sharp tongues and many such things. But this is not because they are inherently rebellious, hate God or are His enemies. Those are lies that drive our children away from God.
Our children do these things for two reasons. The first is that they are sinners in fallen bodies. Without the grace of Jesus Christ, they are not able to do anything that pleases the Father. But Jesus was pleased with the children because He granted them grace. The second reason children do these things is because of immaturity. They do not know any better, have not been taught well or have not been properly disciplined. This discipline comes in different forms. It includes spankings and other forms of discipline but it also includes an increasing expectation on the part of the parent that the child will discipline himself.
This is important for us to understand. We come to God with all of our imperfections. For Christians, already possessing the Holy Spirit, the root cause is our fallen bodies as well as our immaturity in Jesus Christ. But if we come to God honestly and look to Jesus Christ in faith, we are then qualified to come into the tabernacle. This looking to Jesus means seeing Him as He is which causes us to see ourselves as we are. Our sins are then put in a stark contrast to the glory and perfection of Jesus. But this ought not to cause us to shrink away from His presence. It should cause us, like little children, to come to Jesus and desire a blessing. Jesus forgives all that come to Him honestly and humbly. We know that if men, women and children do this honestly, then they are not only forgiven of their sins but also sanctified in the body. This kind of grace from Jesus changes us into the kind of people that want to please Him and not be the source of a rebuke from Him like He gave to Peter.
We understand this. We have all had parents that we wanted to please. Unfortunately, some of them would never be pleased and this caused us a great deal of sorrow. But good parents are pleased when their children seek to do what is right. Our God is like that. Jesus is like that. The Holy Spirit is like that. So come into the tabernacle. Dwell in God’s holy hill. Walk uprightly before Him. Work righteousness in His sight. Speak truth in Your heart to God and from Your lips to Your neighbor. And know that in Christ you are welcome.
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