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Daily Devotion: Psalm 24:1-3

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Psalm 24:1-3     "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  (2)  For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.  (3)  Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?"

We read later in the Psalms, "The works of the LORD are great."  I'm not sure that we can even begin to fathom just how great our God truly is.  Chris Tomlin wrote the contemporary song which says over and over, "How Great is our God!"  David surely understood to some degree the concept of God's greatness. But I'm not sure that I have even scratched the surface on His greatness. How about you?  Do we even stop to think about such things anymore?  As a child, I remember going outside and just laying in the grass and looking up into the sky both in the daytime and at night. But I don't think I understood the great truth of today's text.  All that we see about us which is called nature belongs unto the Lord.  

Sometimes, I hear people say this world belongs to Satan. That is not true. I do not read anywhere in God's Word that He relinquished control to the devil. "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof."  Our God reigns. He sits in majestic greatness. He is totally pure and righteous and holy and good. There is nothing about Him that could be considered less than perfection.  With that thought in mind, the Psalmist went on to ask, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?"  Why would that question be placed at this point in the Psalm?  We see the backdrop of God's righteousness and if we have truly looked at ourselves in the mirror of God's Word, then we know we have nothing - absolutely nothing - whereby we can claim as being worthy of attaining God's attention. Who shall approach the throne of God?  If it is left there, we all would be hopeless.

The writer then answers his own question.  "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." (Psalm 24:4)  So now, I look at the answer to who shall be able to approach the throne of God and I think to myself:  That leaves me out. I know myself and I know the tendencies of the fleshly mind with which I still must contend. So now, I realize the only way I can approach God is not through my own ability or goodness, but through His mercy and grace.  How was His mercy and grace bestowed upon me?  He gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. If my hands have any cleanness, if my heart has any purity, it is through the righteousness of Christ that was given to me.  The Apostle Paul wrote it in this manner:  "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)  That great transaction which was made by God's grace was when Jesus took my sin upon Himself and gave me His righteousness in exchange.

You and I can approach the throne of God purely and simply through the shed blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus. We cannot come before God and try to say how clean our hands are and how pure our hearts are. No, we come before the Lord in the name and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus declared that we are to pray in His name. Because He is our clean hands and He is our pure heart.  How great is our God!?!  The earth is the Lord's and fullness thereof. Again, David explained it in this manner:  "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100:3)

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