Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 9 · January 9
Who Shall Abide
“He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.”
"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" Someone asks that question at the gate of God's house, and Psalm 15 is the answer that comes back.
Walk through the answer one line at a time, because the shape of the list is the surprise. It begins, "He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart." Then it turns to his neighbour: he "backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." Then it shows his loyalties and which way they run: "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD." (Contemned means looked down on.) Then come his word and his money: "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent." Usury here means lending to a neighbour at interest, and the reward is a bribe.
That makes eleven descriptions of the person who may come near a holy place, and not one of them is a sacrifice, a festival or any ritual at all. The whole list is about the mouth, the neighbour and the money. "Speaketh the truth in his heart" goes deepest, because the heart is the one place nobody else can check. "Sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not" is the hardest to keep. You gave your word, the price came in higher than expected, and you paid it anyway. Most of us keep a way out of our promises. The person on God's hill has one too, and leaves it alone.
If you read this list as a price you must pay to get in, it is unbearable, and Scripture knows it. Ask Psalm 24 the same question at the same gate, and its answer is "He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart." Nobody has ever produced that on demand. Yet Psalm 24 goes on: "He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Righteousness is God's gift. The last line of Psalm 15 tells you what the list is for: "He that doeth these things shall never be moved." It is about standing firm. So go back over the eleven and find the one that made you flinch. Maybe it was the promise that got expensive. Ask God for strength, and keep it this week at the price you agreed.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 9 is No Longer Servants (Galatians 4:7).