Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place
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. -- Psalm 24:3–4 (ESV)
Do you ever feel like you can't come and worship God? Maybe you had a bad week. Maybe a specific sin seems to be undefeatable this week. Maybe life seems so tiring and suffocating that worship feels like one more thing.
In Psalm 24, the Psalmist asks a honest, penetrating question. Who can come and stand in the presence of a perfect, holy, righteous God? Can you? Can I? His answer: someone with clean hands and a pure heart. Uh-oh. Now what?
