The hill of the LORD, the holy place; who shall ascend, who shall stand? In their time, the hill of the LORD was covered in clouds of smoke and flame, surrounded with lightning and thunder. The base of the hill tremored. Anything not conformed to His demands that approached, died. If mere approach resulted in death, need we consider standing? In the presence of the Lord, angels covered their faces and their feet, constantly resounding to each other, His holiness. Consider then, the audacity of modern-day man.
Clean hands and a pure heart? Clean, and hands as in plural. In a corrupted world, working the ground; can we ever come away with clean hands, even if we wanted to? And the heart is deceitfully and desperately wicked above all things, or would “wicked and desperately deceitful” be also an encompassing description. The standard for a pure heart is clearly unattainable. But we have nonetheless to pursue cleanliness; we can at least look to “guarding” against.
Clean hands and a pure heart? Clean, and hands as in plural. In a corrupted world, working the ground; can we ever come away with clean hands, even if we wanted to? And the heart is deceitfully and desperately wicked above all things, or would “wicked and desperately deceitful” be also an encompassing description. The standard for a pure heart is clearly unattainable. But we have nonetheless to pursue cleanliness; we can at least look to “guarding” against.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. (Psa 119:9)
To lift up our soul to what is false, and to swear deceitfully; they are both ironies. Why would we choose to worship, what we know to be false? To swear and to be deceitful in the same breath, is also clearly unnecessary; why swear when you can be silent, and why with deceit, if indeed we wanted to swear. Ironic but of a truth, we do. We do worship what we know to be false, and we do swear deceitfully. Let us heed the advice of Elder John regarding idolatrous lives and be ever conscious that we carry, and thereby invoke the Name of the LORD.
In our preparation to approach the Holy One whether in groups or on our own, let us not be too cavalier; the requirement for clean hands and a pure heart is not a supposition. By His grace and righteousness, He has provided a way; a path paid for, in blood. The Hebrews writer has warned against “trampling underfoot” the blood of the Lamb.
You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. (Lev 20:26)
Holiness is not quite the same as purity but to be wholly and conspicuously separated and dedicated, for His use. Holiness is also not something that can be deferred till we are older. The LORD is definitely on a “time-sharing” relationship. We do not have the luxury or the option to look back, once having put our hands to the plough.
God bless.
/ckh
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