Approach the Sovereign God

Today's Reading: Psalm 24

Comments: Portions updated at lunch are highlighted!

God's Reign-

Psalm 24:1 (ESV) 1  The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,

See Jeff that the psalmist acknowledges that I have absolute sovereignty becasue it was I that created all that is...

Psalm 89:11 (ESV) ¹¹  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

So have confidence Jeff that I am in control. Know that I answer to none...

Job 41:11 (ESV) 11  Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

See that I have all authority over the earth and what you call "nature"…

Exodus 9:29 (ESV)29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.

Know that I have all authority over the circumstances in your life in that I can deliver a promise…I keep a covenant becasue I have all rule and authority over all things and all people…

Exodus 19:5 (ESV)5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

So know Jeff that none of your cirsumstances, none of your trials have escaped my control.  You may not see or understand why I allow what I do Jeff, but know that my ways are higher than yours and my thoughts are higher than yours. Do not ask that I explain myself or justify my actions or you may be as Job when I ansered this question to him…

Job 38:1–5 (ESV)38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
 ²  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
 ³  Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
 ⁴  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
 ⁵  Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?

Also know Jeff that I hate the sin that occurs even though I allow it. I do not see straight forward as you do where vision can be blocked or is limted Jeff. I can view circumstances as bad in the near sense and good in the larger sense…recall that I considered Pharoah's hard heart to be sin even though I caused it and intended it to glorify my name as I delivered my people from him. 

See too that my Son wept with Lazarus' family before he healed him as this indicates my care and compassion even as I allow the pain Jeff. Do not take my allowance of bad things to mean that I approve or that I do not hurt with you and that I do not myself cry with you…this was clear on the same topic a couple days ago Jeff in John 11:33-36.

Philippians 3:21 (ESV)²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

See Jeff that I have put all things subject to my Son and I can surely use all things to work toward your transformation into the likeness of my Son. 

Who can come into the presence of the Sovereign God?-

Psalm 24:3 (ESV) 3  Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place? 

Jeff- the psalmist here is amazed at the wonder of my sovereignty and the breadth of my power and he is drawing out the idea that it would be purely by God's gracious and loving gift, according to his good pleasure, that he would allow anyone into his presence to enjoy relationship with him in such close proximity. Who could possibly be worthy of this honor?

Psalm 24:4 (ESV) 4  He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.

Clean hands and a pure heart. Does anyone have this Jeff? Just one. My Son who walked as a man, not as deity in his strength or physical attributes or even mental fortitude…no Jeff. My Son accomplished perfection in his heart, perfection in his actions, perfection in his attitude, perfection in his love and perfection in his subjection to my reign as the Father- not as the creator of the universe, which he is, but as a man…

From Concise Theology by J.I. Packer-

The Gospels show Jesus experiencing human limitations (hunger, Matt. 4:2; weariness, John 4:6; ignorance of fact, Luke 8:45-47) and human pain (weeping at Lazarus’ grave, John 11:35, 38; agonizing in Gethsemane, Mark 14:32-42; cf. Luke 12:50; Hebrews 5:7-10; and suffering on the cross). Hebrews stresses that had he not thus experienced human pressures—weakness, temptation, pain—he would not be qualified to help us as we go through these things (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15-16; 5:2, 7-9). As it is, his human experience is such as to guarantee that in every moment of demand and pressure in our relationship and walk with God we may go to him, confident that in some sense he has been there before us and so is the helper we need.
Christians, focusing on Jesus’ deity, have sometimes thought that it honors Jesus to minimize his humanness. The early heresy of Monophysitism (the idea that Jesus had only one nature) expressed this supposition, as do modern suggestions that he only pretended to be ignorant of facts (on the supposition that he always actualized his omniscience and therefore was aware of everything) and to be hungry and weary (on the supposition that his divinity supernaturally energized his humanity all the time, raising it above the demands of ordinary existence). But Incarnation means, rather, that the Son of God lived his divine-human life in and through his human mind and body at every point, maximizing his identification and empathy with those he had come to save, and drawing on divine resources to transcend human limits of knowledge and energy only when particular requirements of the Father’s will so dictated.
Packer, J. I. (1995). Concise theology : A guide to historic Christian beliefs. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House.

So Jeff, know that you must abide in my Son to have this pure heart and clean hands that you may ascend the hill and meet with me intimately…

John 6:56 (ESV)⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

So be sure to feed on my Word (flesh) and trust in my sacrifice alone as your justification before God (my blood), not in your own righteousness.

John 15:4 (ESV)⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Seek satisfaction and fulfillment only in the my Son Jeff as this is how you abide and how you are fed.

John 15:9–11 (ESV)⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jeff- walk in obedience to my Word in loving gratitude for the sacrifice of my Son, not is some performance to earn anything. This is your abiding that will bring us into close communion and that will maintain the purity of your heart and cleanliness of your hands.  

From the Matthew Henry Commentary-

The properties of God’s peculiar people, who shall have communion with him in grace and glory. (1.) They are such as keep themselves from all the gross acts of sin. They have clean hands; not spotted with the pollutions of the world and the flesh. None that were ceremonially unclean might enter into the mountain of the temple, which signified that cleanness of conversation which is required in all those that have fellowship with God. The hands lifted up in prayer must be pure hands, no blot of unjust gain cleaving to them, nor any thing else that defiles the man and is offensive to the holy God. (2.) They are such as make conscience of being really (that is, of being inwardly) as good as they seem to be outwardly. They have pure hearts. We make nothing of our religion if we do not make heart-work of it. It is not enough that our hands be clean before men, but we must also wash our hearts from wickedness, and not allow ourselves in any secret heart-impurities, which are open before the eye of God. Yet in vain do those pretend to have pure and good hearts whose hands are defiled with the acts of sin. That is a pure heart which is sincere and without guile in covenanting with God, which is carefully guarded, that the wicked one, the unclean spirit, touch it not, which is purified by faith, and conformed to the image and will of God; see Mt. 5:8.
Henry, M. (1996). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ps 24:3–6). Peabody: Hendrickson.

Do not give yourself to false gods Jeff. Do not yield yourself to have affection for the world or its offerings (who does not lift up his soul to what is false). Delight yourself in me rather than in the wickedness of the world Jeff.  Deal honestly with man and with me and with yourself (and does not swear deceitfully) if you want to dwell on the hill and meet with me Jeff.

Psalm 24:5 (ESV) ⁵  He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Then you will receive my blessing and righteousness!

Application and Prayer:

• Today I will rest secure in your care Lord knowing that you everything and everyone is subject to you
• Today I will trust in my savior, not my circumstances, because I do not know your purpose or your means by which you would chose to transform me from glory to glory
• Today I will pray that you would purify my heart and cleanse me by the power of your Spirit through the process of sanctification
• Today I will obey and I will seek you that I may abide in surrender to your will and your kingdom rather than mine

Thank you Lord for being my strong tower. Thank you that you are unstoppable. Thank you that you stop at nothing to love me. Thank you that you weep with me when I hurt and that you are not pleased with evil things that would happen around me. Help me always to trust in you and not my circumstances.  I ask this in Jesus name and for the glory of your kingdom Lord, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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