Who Shall Dwell in the House of the Lord, Psalm 15

Whom shall dwell in the house of the Lord?

Psalm 15
 
15 O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill?

2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

3 He does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,

But who honors those who fear the Lord;

He swears to his own hurt and does not change;

5 He does not put out his money at interest,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken.

Now as Christians we understand that our place is guaranteed in heaven. That Jesus' death wiped away all of our sins. But that doesn't mean we should just run around sinning willy-nilly. No it means that there is a conduct of behavior that is expected of us.

Yes, we have the privilege of having the Holy Spirit live within us but we still have to consciously decide to allow the Spirit to flow through us at that moment of temptation.

But I look as this psalm as a litany of temptations. We are tempted to:

• Walk an unrighteous life
• Gossip
• Lie
• Respect evil
• Enact revenge
• Accept bribes
• Lend money to our benefit
• Judge our friends..

And that is what David is warning us against. Of course the "big" sins are things we are aware of.. murder, stealing, adultery, etc... those are obvious. But the "little" sins are equally unrighteous and all it takes is one step on the wrong path.

And right at the end of vs 5

He who does these things will never be shaken

What does that mean? Well I read this to mean, when we do these things we are not serving God, we are not glorifying God, we are falling into sin and closing our hearts to God.

So as Christians we need to walk with integrity.. to live the life God has planned for us and then we can take vs 5 in an entirely different manner.. He who does these things shall not be moved. Living a righteous life, allowing God to flow through us.. then "just like the tree that's planted by the water.. we shall not be moved!"

Shauni

*remember these are my thoughts on this verse and what I took away from my Bible study.. feel free to add yours to the discussion.