DAY 2 –Entering the Month of Elul and the Sanctuary of GOD.
Prayer Schedule: ELUL, OUR 29 DAY BANQUET OF PRAYER…TO HONOR THE KING OF GLORY!
PSALM 15
15 Lord, who shall abide (guwr, dwell as a new-comer, someone without original rights) in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; 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.
LOOKING A LITTLE CLOSER THROUGH THE HEBREW….
1 Lord, who shall abide (guwr, dwell as a new-comer, someone without original rights) in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell (settle down) in thy holy hill?
2 He that walketh uprightly (tah-meem, blameless) and worketh (paw-al, do or make) righteousness (tseh’-dek, justice, what is right), and speaketh (de-var, speaks) the truth (eh-met) in his heart (bil-va-vo) .
3 He that backbiteth (raw-gal, walks around by foot) not with his tongue (law-shone), nor doeth evil (rah) to his neighbour (ray-ah, friend, companion), nor taketh up a reproach (cher-pah, disgrace) against his neighbour (kaw-robe, near… from the Hebrew root word kaw-rav, meaning to draw near).
4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned (ma’as, to abhor); but he honoureth (yaw-ray, awe, reverence) them that fear (kaw-vad, heavy, weighty, weight of the Glory) the Lord (YHVH) . He that sweareth (shaw-bah, keeps their word, oath) to his own hurt, and changeth not.
5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward (bribe or present, gifts) against the innocent (naw-kee, clean, free from guilt, blameless). He that doeth these things shall never be moved (mote, be brought down, made to shake or slip).
Who shall abide in they tabernacle? Who shall dwell in they Holy Hill?
He who mirrors the character and nature of YHVH. He who meets the moral and ethical requirements of Holiness to enter the sanctuary. Psalm 15 spells it out in the very beginning of the initial psalm… “Those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked.”
At one point in time, we were all new-comers to GOD, strangers who dwelled outside of the covenant. The word choice is interesting. The prayer reminds us that we each had no original rights or privilege to occupy the dwelling place of GOD.
Today, we each have an open invitation into the sanctuary. But who is qualified to enter?
Those who worship GOD speak truth. Liars do not abide alongside the anointing.
Truth is a big word in Hebrew. The word for truth is emet. Emet is spelled with the 1st letter of GOD’s Name, the aleph (a). The middle letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is the men (m) and the last and final letter is the tav (t). aleph – mem- tav; representing the entirety of the Word of GOD.
GOD (Aleph) – the Core (Mem, the people, the nations) and His Covenant (Tav). Emet is truth, beginning, middle and end. There are no adjustments, no personal points of view or versions of truth.
Truth in Hebrew can not be expressed without including GOD, His People and His Gift to us of His Covenant. The dictionary definition of truth, does not capture truth to its core… GOD, His People, and Our Covenant.
In our culture, we have excluded GOD from our definition of truth. The world believes that GOD is not a consideration in the existence of truth.
By removing GOD from the equation, we have the Hebrew Word moot, (men- tav), meaning death. Cutting GOD out of our lives and language and understanding, etc means we are working with something absent of truth.
They that worship Him, must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24
David is trying to tell us…
that among other things, lying will completely destroy our power in prayer. Slander and backbiting will disqualify us from destiny. The worshiper of GOD does not enter the sanctuary full of gossip and walking about maliciously spreading slander.
Psalm 15 is David’s prayer spoken over the generations delivered to us so that we may know that there is a protocol for entering the tent of GOD. The first step is to recognize that the degree to which our character and nature and ability to abide in truth and speak truth, will determine our ability to enter into the presence of GOD in prayer, study and worship.
There must be an important reason for that, don’t you think?