Reflections on the Psalms (Psalm 24)

"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    

the world, and all who live in it;

For he founded it on the seas
    

and established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    

Who may stand in his holy place?

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the Lord
    

and vindication from God their Savior.

Such is the generation of those who seek him,


who seek your face, God of Jacob."

We often forget that all LIFE is a gift.  We often walk around like we are entitled to something, like we deserve a list of joys, rights, pleasures, experiences and so on.  But all of life is a gift from God our creator.  How can we claim rights to anything?  How can creation turn to its creator and say "thanks for creating me!  Ohh and by the way i deserve this, that, those things, and all this as a natural result of you creating me.  It just sounds silly.  

How can we even begin to approach God then?  Who is deserving of talking to God let alone a relationship with Him?  The Psalm says its those who approach with the correct posture and attitude.  Those who are pure and not defiled by outside sources, those who have complete trust in God.  So what chance do you or I have then?  We are defiled by sin.  We aren't perfect.  We seek our own pleasures and create idols of our own to worship.  Our hearts constantly seek our own privilege and benefit.  This is where forgiveness and grace come into play.  We can approach God in purity not because of anything we have done or can do but because of what Christ did on our behalf.

And when we come through this approach God promises to give us blessing.  God promises that we won't have to fight our earthly battles because He will go before us.  We can leave room for justice, mercy and grace because we know that God will ultimately stand as judge.  That is the generation God seeks to follow after him.  A people who approach Him through humidity and grace through the sacrifice of the Son, expressing and manifesting his love, forgiveness, grace and mercy to others on earth, trusting that God is in control because he is the creator of all life.