Nobel Prize winner Martin Perl  was asked what he attributed his success to. “My mother,” he answered. “Every day when I came home from school she asked me, ‘So, Martin, did you ask any good questions today?’”

David asked the best question of all: “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?” (Ps. 15:1). There are two words ancient Jews had for expressing the question “who?” One is similar to our usage. But David used another word here that asks, “What kind of person dwells close to God?”

The answer came in a series of character traits: “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart” (v.2).

It’s one thing to know the truth; it’s another to obey it. God delights to live on His holy hill with those who are holy—who reflect the reality of the truth they believe. He loves men and women who ‘ring true’.

This psalm, however, is not about any holiness of our own that we think will qualify us to gain entrance to His presence. It is rather about the beauty of holiness that God forms in us as we dwell in fellowship with Him.

The closer we get to God, the more like Him we will become.

Author

David H. Roper

Topics

Our Daily Bread