Psalm 15 – Abiding in His Tabernacle
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
He who walks uprightly,
And works righteousness,
And speaks the truth in his heart;
He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord;
He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved. (verses 1-5)
Living in His presence – abiding is the key to our internal and external change – not just TRYING to be better. Just so often, we are doing the opposite – striving, not abiding. In our own strength and human effort, we try to make habits go away, try to clean up our mouths, and set our finances and lives in order. In contrast to that - Jesus is trying to woo us into the place of abiding, so He can transform us from the inside out.
I John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.”
Abiding in Jesus is what produces long lasting fruit in our lives. Jesus said in John 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
Whenever we are looking at passages in the Old Testament, such as this one where it is talking about righteousness and holiness, we need to see the passages through the eyes of the New Testament covenant. As we have talked through multiple times in this Psalms series, Jesus is our righteousness if we have come to faith through His blood. At this point of revelation and transformation – we have positional righteousness. The problem that we have in the modern church is that we are abandoning the pursuit of holiness in our bodies, souls, and spirits. This pursuit is what the Psalmist is calling us as we seek to “dwell in” His holy hill.
With that framework in mind – let’s look at Psalm 15 with a free heart and mind and examine closely the characteristics of those who are abiding in the tabernacle of God.
Remember the tabernacle is the presence and the place of abiding with the Holy God. He is the only One who is absolutely perfect and complete, lacking nothing – but yet He desires to be with us above everything else.
Desire is beating out of my chest right now as I read this list. I want to live is a constant state of abiding with Jesus – depending on the vine and seeing these fruits constantly springing out of my life, and I know you do as well.
Let us look at the PRESENCE SEEKERS’ lifestyle…
1) “He who walks uprightly.”
When we walk upright, we are producing good conduct toward others. We are consistent and others notice it. We are full of Christian virtue – walking with integrity of heart. The person who is walking upright does not say one thing and do another. People know they can depend on this person because they are consistently good.
2) “And works righteousness.”
Righteousness is the perfect holiness of God – the opposite of sin. To have our conscience full of righteousness versus sin is the transformation that Christ brings into our lives – through His blood and the renewing of the Word of God upon our souls. We begin to talk and walk in another manner – a holy manner. If we are not seeing transformation and a willingness to lay aside the “sins that so easily beset us” then we need to look and see if we have actually had a heart change or are just living in a state of behavior modification. There is a difference! We want to come into the character of Jesus and live out His righteousness and humility in our day to day lives.
3) “And speaks the truth in his heart.”
When we are deceiving ourselves internally – we are in trouble. If we don’t come to the “knowledge of the truth” then we can never be transformed. This point is so key – because we need to see and speak reality in our own hearts.
One of my favorite and most convicting scriptures for my life is Psalm 51:6 - “Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”
This scripture has always been convicting to me – because my daily desire is to truly be transparent with God on everything inside of my heart. I do not want to hide pride, disappointments, hurt, or hidden sin. God sees it all anyway – so why do we even think it is hidden? This is a characteristic of one who is abiding with Jesus – they speak truth in their hearts. This is a completely free way to live and one that is single focused – not double minded.
4) “He who does not backbite with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.”
Our mouths – it is the perfect way to measure what is really in our hearts when we listen to ourselves talk. Are we really focused on living in God’s presence and our own hearts, or are we consumed with talking about everyone else in our lives? Backbiting, gossiping, speaking against others seem fun in the moment but it is not satisfying and doesn’t make our hearts happy.
When we are full of offenses, bitterness, and unforgiveness against a friend or someone that we know – it can cause our hearts to get shut down before the Lord. Our hearts get hardened, and it can complete separate us from God. We need to stop this in its tracks by watching this “unruly member” – our tongues.
5) “In whose eyes a vile person is despised,
But he honors those who fear the Lord.”
Reverence and honor for God will give us honor from Him as well. It is a bowing of our hearts to the only One who is worthy of praise. It is a place of humility and meekness where we know we need Him. We “fear” Him because He can send our souls to hell, but we also fear Him because He is so much MORE than us. This is where real life is found and true happiness and contentment spring from – because we do not carry the pressure of having to make anything work without Him.
6) “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.”
When we make a promise – we keep it, EVEN if it is uncomfortable or inconvenient. We don’t change! We don’t turn to the right or the left – we stay on the path. When this passage talks about “swearing to his own hurt”, it just means that even if it hurts to keep our word, we do it. We are people of our word. We let our “YES” be yes and our “NO” be no. This is extremely important to God – but also to the people outside of the family of God who are watching us and our behavior.
7) “He who does not put out his money at usury,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.”
Do we use our money to manipulate people? Do we charge others’ enormous amount of interest where they can never pay it off and makes us rich? Do we have a family member “borrow” something from us and never pay us back – and we hate them for it?
Do we let others own us and put us in bondage through our own debt? Are we living a life of contentment and fiscal responsibility in our own personal families?
God is calling all of us to submit our financial dealings to Him. He is seeking to pull us into contentment and simplicity where we allow Him to be our everything and not be controlled by THINGS. If possessions do not own us or control us – we are free to be obedient to Him. This is the root of our hearts that He is trying to get full control of. When we find the fulfillment of His presence – money isn’t as important in our lives as it once was. We can set others free, and we can walk in freedom.
“He who does these things shall never be moved.” (verse 5)
This is where we end up after abiding in His tabernacle – we become unmovable. Our lives bare the fruits of His righteousness and our hearts are free. Therefore, I turn my heart to abiding with Jesus – because I know in the end – my life will be more content, free, and whole.
In the end of time, we will be abiding in His tabernacle. Why don’t we start now – finding our contentment in Jesus?
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