Aug 31 - Psalm 15:1

Who may worship

in your sanctuary, LORD?

Who may enter your presence

on your holy hill?

Psalm 15:1

I was the eldest of three brothers. I picked on them, of course. But I gave Bob a much harder time than Andy.

Bobby was just two years younger and nearly my size. Therefore, it would have made more sense to pick on my youngest brother, but little Andy was a little bit crazy!

Picking on him was like poking an animal with a stick. Sometimes he’d snap … and you never wanted to mess with him again!

My dad constantly tried to teach Bobby that principle, “Bobby, pop him in the nose just once, and he’ll never mess with you again.”

“But he’ll just hit me back harder!” cried my poor little brother.

We didn’t know it, but we were playing King-of-the-Hill. Though no hill was involved in this case, the principle was the same: The biggest, the toughest, and the most-determined reigned from on top. Pretenders to the throne occasionally push back, but the biggest bully usually wins.

Psalm 15 is King-of-the-Hill. God, of course, is eternally King. But our Lord is a different kind of King. Instead of pushing his subjects away from his presence, God invites us to “dwell [with him] on [his] holy hill” (PS 12:1 NRSV).

He invites us up the mountain.

He invites us to live in love and peace and glory.

And yet, too often we’re toppled. It’s not by the King, though. Rather, we topple ourselves.

The rest of this Psalm tells us that insincerity and sin lead us away from the mountain (v. 2). Similarly, slander – which tries to bury a neighbor under the weight of lies – is really burying us ourselves in a deeper muck. The mire of a swamp is obviously far from the top of God’s holy hill (v. 3).

Wait. Let’s turn that around. Instead of worrying about what knocks us down, let’s focus on what draws us higher.

•      Honoring those who are truly faithful (v. 4)
•      Keeping our promises, even when it costs us (v. 4)
•      Being generous, even in lending (v. 5)
•      Speaking the truth (v. 2,5)
•      Doing what is right (v. 2)
•      Leading a blameless life (v. 2)
•      Speaking the truth (v. 2)
•      Despising persistent sin (v. 4)
•      Refusing to hurt, harm, or slander (v. 3)
•      Having a sincere heart (v. 2)

What draws us higher? My summary is “persistently practicing integrity.” And what is integrity? It’s who you are when nobody else is looking.

I love that definition. But it misses one important truth: The King-of-the-Hill is always looking – looking on with love, yes, but still looking.

“Lord … who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” The answer is everyone. That’s the invitation.

The problem is that we play king-of-the-hill with ourselves. When we pretend that we’re kings in charge of our own destiny, we accidentally yet repeatedly toss ourselves into the valley of futility. When we humble ourselves and follow the commands of the true King, he lifts us up.

That’s the principle of Luke 14:10. The king, the host, yearns to say, “Friend, move up higher.”.

In Christ’s Love,

a recovering bully

(who needs to apologize

for trying to be a king)