Psalm 24: Mighty

The twenty-fourth Psalm is filled with bold statements and deep questions. It makes assertions about God and then asks for introspection of ourselves. It reminds us of Who we are coming toward, how He has come toward us and how He deserves to be met. But above all of this, as I read it today, this Psalm makes one all important statement about God, that is easily quoted, but often forgotten—He is mighty.

In Verse 1, David wrote, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for (because) he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” David was revealing that God was not only the Creator, but the possessor of all things, that He didn’t simply speak things into being and then watch to see how they would turn out, or even hand them over for us to do our best with them, but that He created and then held, He brought about and then stayed involved, He came close and stayed near. This echoes my favorite description of Jesus. Colossians 1:15-17 says of Him, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Everything that has ever been created was done so by Jesus and for Jesus, but after creation, after He spoke and light, darkness, space, time, planets, galaxies, land, seas, even humanity came into existence, He then continued to hold it all together. This gives new light to the children’s song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands”, Paul is saying that our idea is a literal fact, the earth and everything in it belongs to the LORD because the LORD continues to hold it together and keep it as His own. He didn’t simply create from His power; He keeps from His love.

David asks, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?” Sometimes these questions confuse me, sometimes I feel like the apostles, who after Jesus said, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Responded with astonishment, “Who then can be saved?” How could I possibly climb the hill of the LORD? What could give me the ability to stand in His holy place? David’s questions must be asked, because if we don’t ever realize who it is that we are coming to, we won’t recognize that He has come to us. Until we realize that there is truly a distance between us and God, we will never celebrate that He Himself has bridged the gap. David was not telling us to do our best to get to God, He was setting the stage to tell us that God will, and has, come to us.

The apostles wrote of this truth over and over: “While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” “When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son . . .” “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.” We didn’t climb the hill and we can’t stand in His holy place. When David seems to answer his questions by writing, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully”, He was not telling us what we needed to do to be accepted, He was telling us what the Messiah would do for us by His sacrifice. We aren’t clean until we are covered in blood. Our hearts aren’t pure until they have been removed and replaced. We don’t stop being deceitful, but when His word abides in us, it fills us with truth that pushes all the enslaving lies out. To combine David’s words with Jesus’, the generation of those who seek Him are not those who find the courage to choose Jesus, they are the ones who surrender and submit to the humility of being chosen by Jesus. We can’t climb the hill, so the King of Glory came down, scooped us up and carried us to the place we could not get to ourselves.

That leads to the next and most important question of the Psalm, “Who is this King of glory?” David said He is, “The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle!” David uses the word “mighty” twice to describe the LORD. I’ve learned that whenever God repeats Himself it’s because there is something of importance that He generously doesn’t want us to miss. Mighty isn’t really a word we use a lot unless we are quoting Scripture. We prefer words like strong, awesome, powerful, but this word “mighty” is important, it can’t really be replaced by any of the words mentioned above. This is a word that doesn’t simply speak to ability, it speaks to reliability. David was not telling us that God can, He was saying that God has. The Moody Bible Commentary says that this Hebrew word is a noun that is used to designate warriors characterized by highly distinguished military service. David was using specific words to call us to trust what God will do by being reminded of what God has done. It’s not that God can, it’s that He has and so we can be confident that He will. In all our lives and in all our situations, God is mighty, because He finishes what He begins, He stays true to His character and He holds on to what He has created. I truly believe that most of us don’t need to see a fresh act of power, we need to be reminded of the great power that has already moved on our behalf. The God who came still comes, the God who saved is still saving, and the God who showed His might in the past is showing His might in the present. We can trust what He is doing because of the goodness of what He has already done. The LORD is mighty.