Caryn Rivadeneira, Director of Care & Worship Planning
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Welcome to Elmhurst CRC's daily dose of the word of God. I'm Caryn Rivadeneira and I serve as Director of Care and Worship Planning. I'll be reading Psalm 15, verse 1 - A Psalm of David.
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Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who might live on your holy mountain?
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If David were alive today - if David were a shepherd, soldier, songwriter, politician - his lifestyle would shock even the most libertine in our culture. From the vast number of wives and mistresses to murderous cover-ups, stories of David could fill our 24 hour news channels. So, I imagine if David were to show up at our church, step on our stage and begin a prayer with, "Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?" Most of us would be thinking, "certainly not you!" And yet (there's almost always a magnificent 'and yet' when it comes to David), posing this question, David does what David does best. We see why he's described as a man after God's own heart; despite his flaws, his sins, and his moral failures, David teaches us more about how we can go to God than perhaps anyone in the scriptures (except Jesus), I'd argue. And here, in this passage, he's asking not only HOW we can go to God, but WHO can go to God.
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Now, according to my study Bible, this Psalm likely reflected a liturgy of entrance into the sanctuary. That is, an actual physical place in the here and now, not a spiritual place in the future. David was likely quoting the priest's words, both in asking the question and an offering the qualifications. And yet, because this Psalm is credited to David, I wonder if David wasn't reflecting on this personally. If he wasn't asking if he was righteous enough to come before God? As David wrote out these words and qualifications, did he reflect on his own behavior, his own lack of righteousness, his own betrayal of neighbor, his own times of disregard for God and God's law? Of course, I have no idea, but I hope so. Because after reading this passage, I sure have been, and it's a powerful exercise.
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It's so easy to imagine scoffing at other sinners like David; it's much harder to take stock of our own faults, of the reasons we don't deserve to come before God. Of the ways that we have been less than righteous, or failed to love our neighbors or honor God. And I don't mean this just in the broad total-depravity/we're all sinners kind of way. I mean in the fearless moral inventory kind of way - to dig deep and ask, "what is keeping me from God right now?" And then to take that to God, to confess it, and to ask for God's mercy. While confession exercises can be grueling, they're the best way to get to the best news and learn the best thing about God. This is something David seems to always be trying to teach us - that God knows the ways we've failed. God knows the ways we've fallen short, as Paul writes. The ways we've been complete and total embarrassments to God, but God loves and welcomes us anyway - like a good parent. God opens God's arms and invites us in. I hope I never get over the miracle of this, the miracle of God's goodness and faithfulness to us.