Often when I read the Psalms, I find myself adopting a mindset from the words of Psalm 1, “Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night,” (Psalm 1:1-2). I often over-emphasize those words viewing the Psalms as only my own private meditations and prayers to God. And from there it is a slippery slope to my faith solely becoming my private thoughts and prayers to God.
Psalm 15 is a necessary course-correction for me. In my Bible, the title of Psalm 15 is that it is a “Description of a Citizen of Zion”. As Psalm 15 begins asking the dual questions “LORD, who may reside in Your tent? Who may settle on your hill?” (Psalm 15:1), the Psalmist is asking who may dwell with the Lord, who may be in God’s presence. And what better question could there be? And the answer the Psalm provides is as the title says, by being a faithful citizen of Zion. It is convicting to me that the answer to God’s presence in this case is not primarily based on quiet times, but on living as a faithful citizen, a communal life, in the Kingdom of God.
Psalm 15 answers the question of our hearts (how can we be near God) by pointing us to how we treat other people. It is the one who “walks with integrity, practices righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart (Psalm 15:2), and does this by not slandering others (v. 3), treats his neighbors and friends rightly (v. 3), who keeps his word even when it hurts him (v. 4), who lends money, but doesn’t do it for their own financial gain (v. 5), who does not take bribes against the innocent (v. 5).
It is the one who treats his neighbor and friends well, who is a citizen, whose faith is found in life together, in the mundane world of money, words, and community as much as it is found in the private quiet times who “will never be shaken” (Psalm 15:5), and who will live from, through, and to the presence of God. I often needed to be reminded that the Psalms are not just a private cry, but a communal prayer to God, speaking to not only our quiet times with God, but our lives as citizens of God’s Kingdom.
- Dylan F.