Bible Teaching by Wanda Ritter

A Study in Psalms #15

From a Laywoman’s Perspective

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” 

Psalm 15:1 (NLT)

This Psalm speaks to me and tells me as a Christian, we should be ‘Pursuing Holiness’.  None of us are perfect and this Psalm is not meant to condemn, but it is a guideline as to what a Christian should strive to achieve if he or she want to spend eternity with the Lord at the end of their days.

Verse one asks “Who can worship God?”  Well, we know that all are invited to worship God, but He is concerned about the character of those who do.  King David, himself was a very sinful man, although he had a repentant heart. When he wrote this psalm I believe he was also speaking to himself.  Can’t you hear him talking to himself in verse (2)?  “I don’t want to miss eternity with God so I better try harder to live a blameless life.”

He knew he needed to be setting an example and not only do what was right, but speak truth to all.  When you have children or even grandchildren, you need to be a good example to them.  Kids listen to everything you say even more than what you do.  If you gossip or say bad things about others, kids are listening.  They have just learned to talk about family and friends behind their back. 

It’s not always easy to refrain from speaking about others who are blatant sinners.  At the same time it’s not always convenient to lift up those around us who are working for the Lord because Christians have a jealousy problem too.  We may know that we should be serving God more.  It’s easy to say we want to be a servant of the Most High, but we can be lazy or selfish with our time.  If you have made a promise to God or others, you better follow through on it. God honors our promises.

Helping needy people is what God expects of us.  Jesus commented in Matthew 26:11 that we will always have the poor with us.  This statement covers a lot of ground.  When it comes to helping others and spending money, it doesn’t go over very well. It is so interesting how often God speaks about money in the Bible. 

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.”  1 Timothy 6:10 (NLT) It appears that of all the things we do or don’t do is about money.  We struggle over how much money we have, but it becomes harder and harder to deal with it.  We can spend all we want for the things we desire, but it seem odd to me that we struggle over giving to God.

I cannot understand why people don’t want to tithe.  When you do God will always supply your needs.  When you don’t give you become a thief and never have enough, but giving to God proves the point that you will receive blessings. God proves it over and over again.  I always say that I will always tithe and offerings because I want God’s blessings.  You may never be rich, but you will never go without.

Verse 5 in this psalm are trying to tell you to give what God wants; he wants you to be blessed! When you understand God’s handling of money it says, “Such people will stand firm forever”.  However, we must have a desire to please God and to work toward Holy Living. Psalm 15 encourages me to try to be a better Christian and be ready to receive God’s blessings that he truly wants to give each of us.