For today’s meditation let us look at Psalms 15. In verse 1 we read, “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” In Psalms 1:1,2 we read the answer to this question, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” This is the kind of man that can sit in the tent of the Lord. In the book of Isaiah 33 we see a similar question being asked and answered by the Holy Spirit. From verse 14-16 we read, “Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?” He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.” How clearly the Holy Spirit speaks of the qualification of a man who can live in the tents of the Lord.
In Psalms 15 from verse 2 onward, the Holy Spirit mentions 11 qualifications of a man who can dwell in the Lord’s tent. The 1st qualification is to “walk with integrity”. How can we walk with integrity when we live on this earth? We know how angels have not been given the privilege to dwell in the Lord’s tent. We read in Revelations how the angels cover their face when they worship God. But we have been called to live with this great God. What a high calling it is that we have been called to! We already know that all our good deeds are like filthy rags before God. So if we try to some deeds to produce fruits as mentioned in this Psalm by our own strength, it will be useless. So what can we do? We know that a tree can produce fruits only if it has strong roots. Similarly, we can also produce these fruits only with strong faith. Let us look at the 1st qualification – integrity. We may think that we walk with integrity, but God also has to agree that we walk with integrity. Everything is visible before God. We see in the book of Job how in chapter 1 that it is God who certifies that Job is a man who lives with integrity. In Genesis 17 we see how God calls Abram to walk with integrity before Him. In Psalms 15:2 we read the next qualification is to do “righteous works”. We know that faith without works is dead. God does not want us to live a life without works.
The next qualification is to “speak the truth in his heart”. When Jesus was on this earth we read of a man that He himself certified – Nathaniel. In John 1:47 Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” In the above verses we see how Nathaniel said what was in his heart. He wondered of anything good could come from Nazareth. But Jesus understood his heart and identified it as one with no deceit. Can God certify that our heart has no deceit?
In Psalms 15:3 we read the next qualification – “does not slander with his tongue”. Slander means to give a false account of someone and thereby give them a bad reputation. Backbiting with our tongue can cause more harm than actually biting them with our teeth. What a dangerous thing our tongue can be! In James 3:5,6 we read, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.” A tongue has the power to destroy. If we need God to certify that we don’t slander, we need to learn to control our tongue. If we speak lies, we serve the devil with our tongue. How careful we must be! The next two qualifications are – “doesn’t do evil to his neighbor” and “doesn’t take up a reproach against his friend”. If we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will not do evil to them. If God’s love abides in our hearts, we can follow these things.
In verse 4 we read the next two qualifications, “despises a reprobate” and “honors those who fear God”. A man of God wrote the following – if a man who fears God and an angel comes before me, I will respect more the man who fears God. A man who fears the Lord is placed higher than angels. The next qualification we read in verse 4 is “one who swears to his own hurt and does not change”. We know how many people go back on their word, they change their words in order to get profit. Are we like that? Can people take us for our word or are we careless with the use of our words? Let us examine ourselves.
In verse 5 we read, “does not put out his money at interest”.. We are not to make profit out of dealing with our brothers. A man of God once had a fellow brother to do the carpentry work in his house. The brother that did the work billed the man of God only for the raw materials that were used. The man of God ensured that he paid for the raw materials and cost of the labor. We need to be careful that we owe no man anything and also that we don’t make interest out of our brothers. Even if it is a small thing, we need to be careful in all our dealings. We shouldn’t take advantage of our brothers to get any work done in profit. The next qualification is “doesn’t take a bribe against the innocent”. We know how the wealth of parents are given to children after their time. If we were making money in wrongful ways and by hurting innocent people, grabbing for the next generation, we are serving the devil and allow the devil to dominate the children as well through that inheritance. Let us make sure we are careful in this area – in making money. We will have to account to God one day for all the profits we have made. With nothing we came into this world and we can take nothing out. God will only look at how we lived when we were on this earth and not at what we have saved up here.
We read the final line of this chapter, – “he who does these things will never be shaken”. All the things in this earth will be shaken, but a man who lives in this way will remain firm. There’s a song that has the words “He lifts me up”. We can never lift ourselves up by our strength. God can lift us up and keep us unshakable. Let us seek to live in this way.
In Revelations 2:14 we read, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.” May God keep our selves pure and not be a stumbling block to any of our brethren. In 2 Corinthians 6 we read that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:16 we read, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we walk this way and keep the temple of the Holy Spirit holy. The desire of the flesh is to do everything against the will of God. Let us put to death the flesh with all its desires and passions. In Revelations 21:3 we read, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them””. The Lord will be with us and be our help.
Let us say with boldness that if my God is with me and His strength is with me, I can live a victorious life with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and live in His tent. May God help us to be like the man described in Psalms 15.
