Sunday, December 8, 2013

Lectio Divina


          For this week's journal entry I chose the fifteenth Psalm.  This is a particularly short Psalm and with my work and family schedule it was an appropriate choice in order to give the proper effort.  The Word of God always surprises me in one way or another.  Sometimes it is the content itself that simply stands out as obvious and convicting at other times the marvel of specific conversation reaches out to me from the pages.  This experience was no different as it became clear that my reading of the Word is insufficient and then this was reaffirmed in the most gentle of ways. 

            "Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain?" (Psalm 15:1)  There is nothing that makes sense to my understanding why this sentence read completely different than it ever had before.  The question just continued to be asked in my head during and after each read through.  Usually the things that stand out to me are statements like the next verse that tell us only the righteous or those who are blameless.  These immediately convict me to guilt as there is a part of myself that believes that this righteous life is not too far from my grasp.  Yet, the crushing realization of a life that is falling short settles in pretty quickly. 

            The question becomes all the more convincing as I wonder sincerely who could possibly live in God's sacred tents or on His mountain?  It amplifies the principal of God's grace and that it was ever present in the Old Testament era as well.  Without a Savior, without a redeemer and an advocate how could I even hope to live in His tent?  It is holy and perfect and free from the things that plague my very nature.  It is hard to put into words just how important it is to be grateful for not just the things that I have or even for my family but that I have this exact hope that I too will be in that tent and on that mountain because of my redeemer Jesus who is my Lord.

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