“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory.” (v1-4,9-10)
This Psalm has three main sections.
1. David declares the glory of God, describing Him as the engineer of the world – which must have been astounding to David. I realize that at this present day, with the level of technology we have, the creation of the world may seem a little less impressive – we can reshape the earth, re-imagine and recombine plants or animals, and travel through space – but even still we should be in awe of God who made the entire earth out of nothing in six days; we will never be able to compare, no matter how advanced our technology becomes.
2. David describes who can be in God’s presence – those who are “clean”, meaning those who obey and worship the one true God alone, not false gods. Again, in this day and age we can easily fool ourselves into thinking we don’t worship “idols”, those ancient statues that represent a god who demands allegiances and sacrifices. Yet we fail to notice the things to which we pledge the majority of our resources (time, money, energy), taking away from what we give to God. Most of the time the areas we sacrifice in seem like noble endeavors, though if they’re not a calling from God, they just might be an idol.
3. David pleads for people to receive God into their hearts – the metaphor of doors or gates for people’s hearts is common in the Bible. Jesus Himself says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Rev 3:20) He’s not talking about a literal door, he’s talking about opening up our hearts – He wants to come into our lives, but He will only do so with our permission. David too longs that people will grant Him that permission.
Elohim (Father God / Creator God), please grant each of us the wisdom to open our hearts to You, and to You alone. For we are a stubborn people, and a blind people, for we know not what we are doing. Open our eyes o God, so that we may see Your glory. Open our hearts o God, so that Your glory may dwell within us, and we may be cleansed. Open our lives o God, so that others may see Your glory through us. Praise be to El Shaddai (God Almighty).
~ Conqueror in Training