The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psalm 24:1-5
Oh how differently humanity looks at opportunity than God. Last week we talked about the condition of our hands and the danger of idle hands. This week, I would like to talk about where clean hands will take us.
Scripture clearly asks who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Psalms 3:4 calls the hill of the Lord an “holy hill”. Who can ascend to this place? The man that hath clean hands is the man that can. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” There is something powerful about lifting holy/clean hands to God. Psalms 28:2-4 says, “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.”
We think the more wickedness, iniquity, filth, rude, and profane talk we are involved in, the cooler we are. Dirty hands will never ascend to the hill of the Lord, nor stand in His holy place, much less rise to true prominence in the community or workplace.
Our prayer for you this week: May you come to realize what it takes to ascend is clean hands.
