I don’t know about you, but I love to spend time with God, in His presence. The problem I have is that I am not always in His presence. Sometimes I am not there. I know one day I will be in His presence forevermore, but until then, I must look at the things on this side of eternity that keep me from being constantly in the presence of God.
In this short Psalm (5 verses only), the Psalmist asks the question, “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? Another way to think about this is who can live with God or be in constant, unbroken fellowship with God? The Psalmist answers:
- A person who does the right thing even in his or her heart where only God can see. This is the idea of personal integrity.
- A person who displays right conduct toward others in word, deed and thought.
- A person who views evil as God does and views God’s people as God does. The first part of that is probably the easier part. Sometimes God’s people can be challenging, and we forget how God views them. They are precious to Him.
- A person who accepts God’s provision and follows God’s order with money, not taking advantage of the poor for gain, not trying to get gain by dishonest means.
All the qualifications of the person who is in constant, unbroken fellowship with God, who dwells on His holy hill are based on a standard – God’s standard. God is the measuring stick in each case. The conclusion one easily draws from this consistent standard is that moral relativism, the idea that each person can follow his or her own moral standard, is a lie. There is no moral relativism, only a moral absolute. The absolute standard for right and wrong, for good and evil, is God’s law. Learn it, love it and live it!
