Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 24 (July 24, 2025)

July 25, 2025:  Thursday Bible Study on Old Testament of Psalm 24

Good morning and God's blessings be with you on this beautiful blue-sky day!

In Monday’s bible study that I sent out, I misspelled two words. Navajo and Kayenta. I guess my brain was on hold when I did the proof reading for the study. Please remember that this Sunday we have a donut and coffee hour before worship. It will take place at 9AM in the parish Hall. After church, since this Sunday has been designated as Christmas in July for our worship, I am asking that you bring a batch of your favorite Christmas cookies to share after the service.  Melody and I will be bringing Loretta Olson's Oatmeal Butter cookies which have become a favorite in our home for Christmas. We will also have bags for you to use as you collect your samples of everyone's favorite Christmas recipe. You might also bring your recipe card so that folks can take a screen shot of it for their own use. Thanks so much.

Today we are in the 24th Psalm of David. Just a note. If you are using the Psalms as they are printed in the front of the hymns in the ELW, you may notice some differences. That is because the Psalms in our hymnal were composed to be sung.

The phrase, "Who can Ascend the Mountain of the LORD?", gives us a broad hint about the content of this Psalm. In other words, who is right with God to do this, and who is not right with God and should not be doing it! In all our lives there are holy places which demand a certain amount of trust and faith in the LORD of Hosts to be there. I have only been in the cathedral on the campus of the University of Chicago a couple of times, but it is a worship space with great beauty meant to honor and give praise to God. Or, even when you walk into the Dove of the Desert on Tucson's south side on the Tohono reservation.  Upon entering San Javier Mission, there is no doubt about the lives of the faithful who have come there over centuries to worship the Holy One of Heaven. When I have been there, it is like the powerful quiet of all of the faithful who have preceded me over the Mission's history are still there surrounding everyone who comes, causing a quiet of the heart and mind, brining to focus the One True God and His love for all of His Children.  I can only imagine Moses on Sinai, or doing a pilgrimage to that holiest of places, and how it would bestow upon each person of faith an awe for God's unsearchable splendor.

In the first part of this Psalm, David begins with words of Praise for the Power and willingness of God to shelter the faithful who are at war with His constant presence and care. In verse 4 we discover what it takes to be received into God's protective presence. Just a note. (I know that this all sounds very heavily militaristic. But we must understand that is where David found himself so many times in his life as he tried to defend the Promised Land against tribes and nations who came to threaten David's people and land.)  So, what does it take to come into God's presence? Verse 4 tells us.

"The person who has been clean of hands and pure of mind" will be able to come before the LORD. They are the ones who welcome the LORD-of-all-creation into their midst. However, there is another part to this. It is possible to lock God out! You and I know how that happens in life. Imagine in times of war that the army of Israel might choose to forget its place before the Lord of Hosts. And when that happens, the Lord's Armies will not be with David's earthly army. In some ways this Psalm, which may be a liturgy in worship, is a deeply rooted reminder, that if you want what the 23rd Psalm offers, then you must live in this relationship with the Living God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, giving Him Praise, and living your life filled with goodness and mercy, and God's justice, being careful to not claim His Justice when it  becomes obvious that God was no part of what was taking place by the unfaithful.  We hear it constantly in our lives today. The leaders of our nation speak the words, without God's truth guiding their lives! I am definitely uncertain about the LORD's support for our leaders who want to claim him as a badge of presence in, with, and around them, yet do not have clean hands or hearts, and are definitely not pure of mind, speaking and acting with the Living LORD directing their lives and guiding them to compassion, grace, kindness, gentleness, and humility before God.

So, what about you and me today? Our worthiness comes through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is His merit that shelters us from keeping God out of our lives. But just being able to say the words of the faithful may not be enough. The faithful must also live lives of faith. So how are you and I doing with all of this? Not too good. We are always failing to invite Christ in, but He came that our failing behavior could be overcome by His own faithfulness and perfect living. This is why you and I are able to look forward to that day when we stand before the judgement seat in heaven, because it is the merit of our Savior that takes the place of our failures to not always welcome God into our own lives, to not always live faithfully in our relationship with God.  For David, and the people of his time, it was still faithfulness that was reconned before God and brought God's care in this life with heavenly armies of support, and the promise of God's favor.

Thanks for being with me this morning. Live faithfully, Love generously, Praise God regularly. With the Love of our Savior, Pastor Kim