Psalm 24 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 24 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
Verse 2for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Verse 3Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
Verse 4Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
Verse 5They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Verse 6Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Verse 7Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Verse 8Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.
Verse 9Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Verse 10Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah
Devotion
“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?” the psalmist asks. In other words, who is worthy to enter God’s temple? We might ask a similar question in anticipation of All Saints’ Day: “Who are God’s saints? Who is worthy to enter God’s presence?”
The psalmist answers the question for us: “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts” may enter God’s temple, and they “will receive blessing from the Lord.”
So, who has “clean hands and pure hearts?” We do! We whose hands and hearts are washed clean in the waters of baptism. We who return to those waters with the plea of another Psalm: “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” (Psalm 51:10). We receive God’s word of forgiveness, the word that repeatedly creates in us the clean hearts we ask for.
Because of God’s grace, we are God’s saints—ordinary and extraordinary, well-known and known only to a few, the whole people of God in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
God of salvation, in the waters of baptism, you cleanse us from sin and give us pure hearts. We give thanks for all your saints and rejoice to be among them, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.