Psalm 15 — Living Righteously — Reading the Psalms

A Psalm of David. 

1 LORD, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness,
And speaketh truth in his heart.
3 He that slandereth not with his tongue,
Nor doeth evil to his friend,
Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised;
But he honoureth them that fear the LORD.
He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury,
Nor taketh reward against the innocent.
He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

I like the simplicity of this psalm. Spirituality is more than living a check-list, but God is good enough to give us a list every now and again. David’s simple words don’t cover everything we need to know, but they reveal a lot. If we want to live with God, we will need to live righteously.

Parts of this effort will be tangible and visible: speaking without slander, refraining from doing evil, or taking up reproaches. I must not engage in these visibly evil practices. But there should be more, right. Vs. 2 speaks of “walking uprightly”. We have to do more than refrain from visible evils – we must do the visibly good. More than refraining from slander, I must speak truth in love. more than refraining from doing evil acts, I must actively do good deeds.

I also like how vs. 2 considers “speaking truth in his heart”. Who will ever see me do this? How ill this show itself? In the long run, these ideas are visible in good souls with good hearts. Even so, that’s not why I should do them. I must speak truth in my heart in order to be sincerely good. The ones who are pure in heart are blessed to see God. This purity and sincerity is done by my own effort, coupled with the grace of God to do and know his will. 

What ideas stand out to you in this psalm? What motivates you to do more and to try harder?