Psalm 15: Kingdom-of-God Dwellers

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.

Some of the Psalm-Prayers have been called “Wisdom Psalms,” and Psalm 15 could be considered among them. All of the psalms, of course, contain wisdom, but these particular psalms are focused on teaching wisdom and on using this teaching as a confession of faith and faithful living. In this Psalm, God is addressed: “Who shall dwell in Your presence? What kind of man dwells safely before You, lives and thrives under Your blessing, is representative of those who worship You truly and ‘possess’ the kingdom of God?” Then comes the answer, simultaneously a decided answer from the lips of God—the Holy Spirit wrote this—as well as a confession from the lips of the psalm-singer. This psalm is also great as a guide for the confession of sin or for intercession for others. This morning’s prayer is a corporate plea to God to make us such kingdom-of-God dwellers.

“Lord, we pray we would abide in Your tabernacle and dwell in Your holy hill. We pray we would live in Your presence lives of holiness and holy worship.
We pray, dear God, we would walk uprightly and work righteousness; that we would speak the truth in our hearts.
We pray we would not backbite with our tongues, that we would do no evil to our neighbors, that we would not take up a reproach against our friends.
We pray “vile persons”—those who despise You and Your way of holiness—would be despised in our eyes, but that we would honor those who love and honor and fear You, O Lord.
We pray we would swear to our own hurt and not change, that we would keep our vows faithfully—our vows of baptism, our vows of marriage, other vows we have taken—no matter what trouble and pain, difficulty or disadvantage, they bring to us;
We pray we would not ‘put out our money at usury,” or abuse others in their misfortune for our own personal gain;
We pray, dear God, we would not ‘take a bribe against the innocent,’ that we would not pervert the truth or bear false witness for our own personal advantage.
We pray we would ‘not be moved,’ O God, that we would live our lives founded firmly upon the Rock of hearing Your words and doing them.
All this we pray in Christ’s name and for His kingdom. Amen.”