Psalm
15:1-5
Who
shall dwell on your holy hill?
He
who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and
speaks truth in his heart;
who
does not slander with his tongue
and
does no evil to his neighbor,
nor
takes up a reproach against his friend;
in
whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but
who honors those who fear the Lord;
who
swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who
does not put out his money at interest
and
does not take a bribe against the innocent.
Abram
apparently hadn’t been paying attention to the covenant; as I noticed yesterday
he didn’t have to DO anything, he couldn’t earn it, and he certainly shouldn’t
have decided to take care of it himself. I know that nothing good can come of
taking the place of God and acting as if God needed our help in making things
work out. Unless God asks us to work with Him it isn’t better when we decide
and take action outside of His word. Poor Sarai, poor Hagar, I don’t like this
at all – and my guess is neither will those involved.
Above,
the psalmist says who can dwell on God’s holy hill, and in this case I don’t
think Abram is acting blamelessly and doing what is right. Doesn’t he remember
how poorly it went in Egypt? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what comes
of this decision, but I am not optimistic!
It
says in Luke 9:51 that when it came time for Jesus to “be taken up, he set his
face to go to Jerusalem.” When Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem it seems
to be he has made up his mind, or is focusing all of his efforts on completing
this task; yet what this task is, he hasn’t said yet what that is. His
disciples take offense on his account when people don’t accept him (9:54) And a
little farther it says: "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for
you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." (verse 9:60) I am wondering what
all this means exactly. I expect the disciples did as well. Then we get to the
10th chapter of Luke and again Jesus sends them out under his
authority, and they come back amazed that they actually have power over illness
or demon possessions – but Jesus tells them to rejoice not in that power but in
the fact that they are known by God in heaven...he says to tell people “the
kingdom of God has come near.” (verse 10:9) I rejoice in that same nearness.
Thank you, Jesus for showing us the way to the kingdom. So when the psalmist
asks who shall dwell on your holy hill we not only have a blueprint we have a
model.
Today’s
readings: Psalm 15, Genesis 16, 1 Chronicles 16:4-43, Luke 9:51-10:24
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