YOU Can Stand in His Presence Unafraid!
This morning I was reading Psalm 24, one of my favourite psalms (although I seem to have a lot of favourite psalms these days). I was reflecting on the words of David in verse 3-6:
Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their saviour. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.
Psalm 24:3-6 (NLT)
In David’s time, people had to go to a location to worship the Lord. For David, it was a giant tent, which in Solomon’s time became a temple. And Jerusalem, Mount Zion, was understood to be the ‘mountain of the Lord’.
David is asking a question: who can stand in the presence of the Lord? He then goes on to say, ‘those whose hands and hearts are pure…’
In David’s time, there was a process that one had to go through in order to ‘stand in the presence of the Lord’ – an intense purification process, as being in the presence of a holy God would not end well for those who don’t go through this but dare to stand in His presence. On top of that, only certain people, the priests from the tribe of Levi, could really do this, and it was a scary and daunting experience for them.
In the past, when I would read verses like this. I would think to myself, “my hands and heart aren’t pure. I’ve made so many mistakes. How can I ever be good enough to stand in the presence of the Lord?”
But that is the whole point. I am not good enough. BUT, God doesn’t see me the way I often see myself.
The reality is, you and I have been purified. We have been washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:14-15). We can approach the throne with boldness and confidence, not with fear (Hebrews 4:16). We have had our hearts ‘circumcised’, so the old, fleshly, sinful self is gone (Romans 2:29).
We can’t purify ourselves, but we don’t have to. We HAVE ALREADY been purified, and therefore we can enjoy a life on the ‘holy mountain’, in the very presence of the Father, and with His very presence in us.
The more I thought about this, the more I realised what a precious gift this is! It’s something that is so easy to take for granted, but it is such a gift! The enemy knows this is a gift, and he wants to do all he can to fill our hearts with a sense of shame and guilt, so that we feel unworthy to spend time in the presence of God. If that is you, let this be your reminder, we have NO reason to feel guilt and shame. We don’t need to worry if we are ‘good enough’, because He has made us good enough. What a beautiful gift and reminder!