Psalm 15 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 15 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Verse 2Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
Verse 3who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
Verse 4in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
Verse 5who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
Devotion
I do not think of tabernacle when I see “tent.” I think of camping. I once agreed to camp for four days on a tiny, uninhabited island in the San Juan's with six adults and three dogs. We crossed Puget Sound in a small boat, disembarked on the beach, hauled equipment and supplies up a hill, and searched for small clearings in the brush to pitch our tents. Each night we slept on tree roots in ever-more gritty sleeping bags, by a wet Labrador and buzzing mosquitoes.
Had that tent been the dwelling place of God, I would not have been admitted. Psalm 15 gives the conditions for entrance into God's sanctuary as righteousness in thought, word and deed in our relationships with each other. Thankfully, I did not have to meet those conditions. For God invites us into his sanctuary, sins and all. He dwells, not in a tent, but in us.
Prayer
O God of grace, receive us according to your mercy and dwell in us. Amen.