The Queen, in her pristine white gloves, was a picture of elegance. Bobby Moore’s hands, by contrast, were covered in dirt. He had just captained the England football team to an historic World Cup win. But now it dawned on him that he was about to shake hands with his monarch. Sweat dripping, stress rising, he frantically wiped his hands on his grubby shorts.
It’s a funny and very relatable moment. We’ve probably all felt awkward or ‘unclean’—especially in the presence of someone with authority over us. So how do we handle such encounters?
It’s the question on the psalmist’s mind as he considers his position before his heavenly Monarch: “Who may stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3).
Who indeed? “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” (v. 4). Whenever I read that, my first instinct is to step back. I feel like Bobby Moore, intensely aware of my unclean hands before my perfect King. But then I see how the psalmist defines those with “clean hands”: they don’t “trust in an idol” (v. 4).
It is idolatry to rely on ourselves—or on anyone or anything other than God—to make our hands clean from sin. Instead we step forward trusting only in Him. We are welcome in His “holy place” because we are hidden in Christ by faith (Colossians 3:3). Amazingly, the Saviour’s clean hands are now ours.
By Chris Wale
REFLECT & PRAY
In what might you be trusting to give you a sense of ‘cleanness’ and wellbeing? How can you put your hope and faith in Jesus alone?
Dear Jesus, thank You for fulfilling this image in Psalm 24. You are my cleanness, my holiness and my right to stand in the “holy place”.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
“This sacred hymn [Psalm 24] was probably written to be sung when the ark of the covenant was taken up from the house of Obed-edom, to remain within curtains upon the hill of Zion” (Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David). David summons us to worship God as the Creator and Owner of all the earth (Ps. 24: 1-2), to live holy lives (vv. 3-4), and to submit ourselves to God as the Sovereign King of all creation (vv. 7-10 ). The worshiper who seeks God wholeheartedly is promised a blessing—he will be justified, accepted, and approved by God (vv. 5-6).
Monica La Rose
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