God is waiting for you to join Him.

 Psalm 24:1–10 (ESV):  

1  The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, 

the world and those who dwell therein, 

2  for he has founded it upon the seas 

and established it upon the rivers. 

3  Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? 

And who shall stand in his holy place? 

4  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. 

5  He will receive blessing from the Lord 

and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

6  Such is the generation of those who seek him, 

who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah 

7  Lift up your heads, O gates! 

And be lifted up, O ancient doors, 

that the King of glory may come in. 

8  Who is this King of glory? 

The Lord, strong and mighty, 

the Lord, mighty in battle! 

9  Lift up your heads, O gates! 

And lift them up, O ancient doors, 

that the King of glory may come in. 

10  Who is this King of glory? 

The Lord of hosts, 

he is the King of glory! Selah 

The King of Glory, Our God and Lord is the creator of all things. Everything that exists was created and designed by Him from rocks and seas to every creature. Each human life has been handcrafted by God, no matter how great, insignificant, good or evil people may seem, all have been created and given breath by Almighty God. That includes you, your neighbours and your nemesis. Everyone has been made in the image of God, created to bear a resemblance to the King of Glory in appearance and character. Yet, even though we are crafted into His image and are a result of his handiwork - none of us deserve to be in God’s presence. Not one of us can match up to God's standards and therefore are not good enough to stand in His holy place (v3) or ascend His hill (v3-4). It is not as if God has made it difficult for us, this psalm shows that He has two requirements; clean hands and a pure heart. Yet who has lived a life of such innocence and purity? Have you ever lied, been led astray, done or said anything wrong? If so then you do not have clean hands or a pure heart so how can you stand in front of a holy, pure, majestic God? How can you even step foot onto His holy hill or peek into the holy place when there is such unworthiness in you? You do not deserve to be in God's presence, and you have no right to even consider it because you have not led an innocent, pure, sin-free life.

Yet, there is a promise that the one who enters God’s presence, ‘will receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness’. How can you ever pertain or aspire to this if it is impossible because of sin? There must be a hope that it is possible, otherwise why would this be written? God is not mean or spiteful so He does not give false hope or promises that can never be fulfilled. Verse 6 assures that, ‘the generation of those who seek him’ will be able to enter God’s presence and will receive blessing and righteousness, but how? Still you remain rotten in comparison to God’s standards, and you cannot undo what has been done. It is so difficult to live a pure life, so how can anyone ever gain the righteousness and blessing of God? In your own strength and capability it is impossible. You cannot live a pure, honest and innocent life, you have failed before and you will again, sin easily entangles and temptation is hard to run away from. You can try your best, but you can never live a life that is good enough to enter God’s presence. However the promise of entering God's presence was made and still stands. 

God fulfils His promises. There IS a way for you to enjoy God's company as well as His righteousness and blessing. You CAN enter the presence of God if you, ‘seek Him’ and let ‘the King of glory’ into your life. Jesus is the King of Glory and so accepting that Jesus has made a way for you to connect with God is the only way that you can have access to all that God promises. Jesus is the one, the only one, that has ever lived a life with clean hands and a pure heart. He is the only one that has refused to give into temptation and sin and so never lied or gone the way he shouldn't. Jesus can ascend the holy hill and enter the holy place because he has lived a life worthy of being there. He can enter the presence of God and he invites you to go with him! Jesus sacrificed his pure, innocence life so that you can take it instead of your rotten, sinful one so that you too can enjoy God's presence! All you need to do is acknowledge that Jesus has made this exchange for you, accept it and take advantage of it. Jesus knows that you have sinned and gone your own way before and he knows that you still struggle with temptation and sin. Yet he still wants to exchange all of that for his innocence and purity so that you can have the privilege of spending time with Father God! Have you taken up Jesus offer of exchanging his life for yours?

Have you done what is necessary to be in His presence - have you opened the gates of your heart and your life to Jesus and let him reign in your life? Jesus is the only one that has overcome the things that separate you from God and made it so that they no longer stand in your way. Jesus has got clean hands and a pure heart, he never led a false life, lied or committed any sin, therefore he can get you into God’s presence. He can transfer his purity to you because he fought with evil and won, in fact he put it to death! He did it so that you can enter into God’s presence alongside him. When you acknowledge the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, he transforms your hands to clean ones and sanctifies your heart to become pure. Therefore you may now enter the kingdom of God. 

Today you can, ‘ascend the hill of the Lord’ and receive the fullness of salvation, righteousness and blessing whenever you want. What a gift! You no longer need to be deprived of God’s presence or righteousness and blessing. Have you taken up Jesus offer? God is waiting for you to join Him.