Day 15: The Summer of His Face Shining Upon Us- Psalm 15

Day 15 – Join Johnny Enlow for a 67-day walk through Psalms.

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NEVER BE SHAKEN

Key Verse: “Lord, who may ABIDE in your tabernacle? Who may DWELL in your holy hill? (v.1)

Key Theme: Terms of Having God LIVE with You

Key Descriptive of God: Guardian of His Presence?

Another wonderful Psalm of David that reveals to us the depth of who he is and why God would call him “a man after my heart.” His first line is, “Lord who may abide in your tabernacle?” Definitely not a normal start of conversation/prayer from a shallow, “bless me” Christian. Two keywords of his first verse I have capitalized. ABIDE and DWELL. When David is speaking of “your tabernacle” and “your holy hill” he is speaking beyond a geographical location. He is speaking of the sacred place of His presence. He has been there and felt the presence but his question is now “How do I ABIDE there?” “How do I DWELL there?”

VISITATION OR HABITATION? 

When I looked up these two similar words in the Hebrew (Strong’s Concordance) the main difference I found is that ABIDE was about remaining or lodging lengthily and DWELL was about remaining or lodging permanently. What a proposition from David. He is seeking an understanding of how to go from a VISITATION mindset to a HABITATION mindset. Is God available in such a way? We have to consider verses 2-5 as God answering. Again we probably have that significant pause between verses that could have been minutes, hours, or even months or years. The timestamp between verses could really be insightful. What then follows is worth diving in deeply over a whole lifetime. God will VISIT anywhere. But He will only LIVE certain places. There is a nuance similar to the difference between REVIVAL and REFORMATION. REVIVAL is a visit from God. REFORMATION requires Him to stay on. A RENAISSANCE will be the result. There are terms and conditions.

WHEN THE AGE TO COME STICKS ON YOU

First, we want to be clear that this is not how you “become saved”. That is all through the blood of Jesus and His righteousness alone. Our tiny responsibility is to say YES to needing a Redeemer. In general, it is worth remembering during our 67 days in Psalms that David is going to have some “gaps” in his theology based on it being under the old covenant. However, his theology is closer to ideal than we might think because he lived “ahead of time”. David lived knowing and experiencing “the age to come”. He would foretell of Jesus in multiple chapters. He would speak of the Holy Spirit (“take not your Holy Spirit from me”) out of this same advanced revelation. David plugged into “ahead of time” realities not theoretically or even legally thought available to him, by nature of his passion and pursuit of God. It tells us a lot about him— and about God. He let David grab hold of the power of the age to come in his own physical body where he could easily overpower lions, bears, giants, and even armies. He could jump over city walls. I have been fascinated with that prospect my whole life. What we see in him this Psalm 15 gives us insight as to how he got there. If you ABIDE and DWELL in His sacred tent “the age to come” begins to stick on you. “All things are possible” becomes your natural default position in the face of any adversity. 

GUARDIAN OF THE PRESENCE?

The Lord is the Guardian of His own presence. There are levels in Him as even expressed in the natural tabernacle of Israel. There was the Outer Court, the Inner Court, and then the difficult to access Holy of Holies. All of them representatively are an aspect of “His presence” but each is progressively a next level discovery of who He is. The priests were only allowed to visit one time a year into the Holy of Holies and that only after advanced measures of sanctification. Yes, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved—  but there are the rewards of those who “diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) God lets our hunger/desperation dictate how far in Him we go. If salvation (Outer Court) is good enough for us then we can stop there. If we must know and experience more of Him it is available to us. In the tabernacle, the same lamb’s blood of atonement went all the way into the Holy of Holies. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we get a taste of the Holy of Holies. Because through Jesus, the veil of separation has been torn, we can go in and out of the Holy of Holies (there was a veil between Holy Place and Holy of Holies in the tabernacle) in a visiting capacity. To remain in that place where He ABIDES or DWELLS we must become more like Him. It is like trying to live with the sun, you can’t do it unless you become sun-like. You will always have something on fire if not and it will be really hard to enjoy the sun. But your frequent visits prepare you for remaining—  as things not like Him begin to burn off. Holiness is not really a commitment to behave. It is evidence of a lot of time with He who is innately Holy.

WHO MAY DWELL?

Verses 2 through 5 then are descriptives of those who don’t just VISIT but those who REMAIN. Verse 2, in reality, covers it all. WALK uprightly, WORK righteousness, SPEAK truth. WALK, WORK, and SPEAK like Jesus. That is it. Oh how simple, huh? As Ephesians 4:13 says, “till we all come…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” There is a “fullness” measure. David then repeatedly addresses things of our speech and mouth as this is the area where we are least like Him. Verse 3, he addresses slander or gossip. Especially against neighbors. Then, speaking evil of friends. Keeping promises even if they hurt. He is saying “Are you safe to be around for people close to you?” If not you are not really ready to be a DWELLER of His Holy Hill. You are not safe for Him and accidentally He may not be safe for you at that level. Too many things that might burn up.

You can take all of this wrongly if it sets off “performance anxiety”. It is not a list of dos and don’ts. Rather it is to be seen as an invitation to the next level of experiencing our Creator. It is telling you how HE is. He is safe to be around— unless you are gossiping or slandering or otherwise bashing people close to you. He WILL burn that off with just a look. He loves you so much He wants you safe to be around. And so, on and on, you get the idea. The final lines say it all. “He who does these things will NEVER BE SHAKEN”. That is what we have to look forward to on this journey into the next measure of who He is. Does anybody need that in 2020? I looked up the word NEVER in the original Hebrew— and it means NEVER. 

 

 

Written by: Johnny Enlow

Featured Image by chris ganser on Unsplash


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The 67 Day Countdown Series is brought to you by Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow, founders of Restore7 ministry, as well as international speakers and best-selling authors. Among Johnny’s books are The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, Rainbow God, The Seven Mountain Renaissance, Becoming A Superhero, and RISE. Elizabeth serves as CEO and penned Rainbow God: The Seven Colors of Love and God in Every Season.

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About the Author

Kingdom Winds Contributors - Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow are social reformers at heart, as well as international speakers and authors of The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, and Rainbow God. As ones focused on the reformation of the 7 primary areas of culture, they are spiritual mentors to many in Media, Arts and Entertainment, Government, Family, Religion, Economy, and Education. Their passion is to awaken our generation to the reality of the God of all of life, Who not only cares for our souls but also has practical solutions to offer through His sons and daughters for every problem that exists in society.