Psalms 24:4-5
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
No on has a clean heart. Everyone has lifted their soul to falsehood. The falsehood is actually, "lifted their soul to worship a vain idol or thing." Everyone has sworn deceitfully. That is 24:4. That is the condition of man. That is the ugly truth about who we all are and how we all behave. As much as we like to think we are good and self-righteous people, we are not. Job was a just man and eschewed all evil. Yet, he found out in the end that this earthly righteousness was nothing compared to God's holiness and true righteousness. But we can be thankful that verse four gives way to verse five. No one would have complained or criticized David for ending his Psalm at verse four. However, he didn't. He gave us verse five. David states that "he" (the one who has an impure heart, a soul worshiping falsehood and a swearer to deceit) will "receive the blessing of The Lord" and "righteousness from God of his salvation." The word "receive" the blessing means to carry something. The picture is that we receive God's blessing and are "forced" to carry it around all day and night. What a delightful burden. God is giving us a blessing that we bear and carry. It continues to protect us and fulfill us. We are given the righteousness of God, as a gift. What a great verse. But, what if it had all stopped at verse four? What if there was no verse five? God's grace is that when we deserve nothing because our heart and soul are worshipping falsehood, He still gives us the burden of His blessing and the joy of His salvation. God is the giver of grace and we are the undeserved recipients. Thank God for the truth of verse five!!
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