Psalm 15

Psalm 15

A Psalm of David

A Psalm of

Reflection

with words to inspire us to

create better priorities

and

make better choices.

Psalm 24:3-5 is related to Psalm 15.

Consider visiting our Psalm 24 page: Psalm 24

Check out all our psalm pages: here

Take note: I am using NASB translation for the first two verses. I am using ICB translation for the last three verses.

I encourage you to read this psalm

in many different translations

so you can get even more insights into this psalm.

Verse 1

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who many dwell on Your holy hill?

This psalm starts out asking the questions:

Who are those

who dwell close to God?

?

What is God looking for in a person?

?

Verse 2 answers the question

and the rest of the Psalm

adds specifics for us.

Verse 2

He who walks with integrity,

and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

We read in verse 2 about

a person who

sincerely tries to

obey God

and

daily shows

godly character

in words and actions.

He speaks truth to himself in his heart.

So, if this person messes up,

he asks God for forgiveness and then 

re-focuses on obeying God.

This person shows the world

 - what Jesus would do - 

A

Beautiful

Psalm 15

Song

Verse 3

He must not tell lies about others.

He must do no wrong to his neighbors. 

He must not gossip.

How we treat people tells a lot about our

character.

God wants us to see every person

as important and worthy of being treated

in a godly way.

Our choice of words

is important

to God.

Kind words are like honey--

they cheer you up and make you feel strong.

Proverbs 16:24 CEV

~

Your own soul is nourished

when you are kind;

it is destroyed when you are cruel.

Proverbs 11:17 TLB

What exactly is Gossip?

The best definition I have heard is...

If I am speaking about someone

and that person overheard me,

and he or she would feel

angry or hurt

at what they hear me say...

then it is gossip.

Many times Christians will gossip

as they share a prayer request.

Let's be careful with our words. 

Will you join me in the prayer below

about this topic?

Dear Lord,

Remind me to

only speak about others

and to others

in ways that

honors others and shows love.

Amen

Verse 4

He must not respect hateful people.*

He must honor those who honor the Lord.

He must keep his promises to his neighbor,

    even when it hurts. **       

* The first part of the verse

doesn't mean that we disrespect certain people.

It means

we do not

admire and esteem

people who oppose God's principles.

The JUB Bible translation of Psalm 15 explains :

⁴ In whose eyes the vile person is not esteemed;

but he honours those that fear the LORD. 

He that swears to his own hurt and does not change.

** This part of the verse

means that

we keep our promises

even if

after making a promise 

we change our mind.

And

the verse is referring to the promises

we make

not only to neighbors

but to family, co-workers, etc.  

God is teaching us not to make promises lightly.

That is an area that many Christians need to improve.

Below I will elaborate.

God does not want us to easily make promises

and then neglect to fulfill them.

Some of the most important examples are

when we promise our children something.

For example...

a promise to be

somewhere at a specific time and we don't show up.

That hurts the heart of a child.

Some parents realize that they aren't going to be at a specific event
(for example they know they can't get off work - or they know they aren't going to go because they would feel uncomfortable at the event)
but they say they will be there because it makes their child happy right now. They are cowards who only think about right now - and they don't want to see disappointment in their child right now.

So they choose the easy path of promising
 instead of
the hard path of living with integrity. 

And that deeply hurts their child.
Many children take that pain into adulthood.

This verse emphasizes to us that we are to 

honor our commitments

EVEN if it COSTS us something!

Many times we make a commitment

and then

when the time

comes to fulfill it -

we don't feel like fulfilling it.

Our flesh doesn't want to fulfill it.

There is often a cost to fulfilling promises

that we don't want to pay.

Soooooo,

we choose to do something more fun or less stressful.

God wants us to honor our commitments

EVEN if it COSTS us!

Some of you are hearing God convict you of this.

Some of you

regularly break your commitments.

God is speaking to you.

Will you repent and promise God to

fulfill your promises?

-

TAKE NOTE:

You do not have to promise people things.

You can always say,

"I'll think about doing it."

Or... "I'll consider it."

Or... "Maybe"

Or.... you could say, "No, I am not going to do that."

If you are a parent whose profession is full of emergencies, then tell your child you can't go
and if
you find that you can go -
surprise your child and be there!

Temporarily pleasing people by making promises

is not a good idea.

Instead we need to stir up godly character.

We need to focus on pleasing God.

If someone has hurt YOU by not keeping promises,

then God is calling you to forgive.

Consider getting practical help here: Forgiveness

Next,

I will speak to the overachievers.

 - the people who never break their promises - 

Some of you really, really try

to honor your commitments

and you are worried

about the time you didn't honor your commitment

because you were sick in bed.

It haunts you with regret.

You think you should

have gotten up and gone anyway.

 God is not speaking to you.

God is not convicting you.

When God says it COSTS you something,

he doesn't mean

you have to get up from

your sick bed.

It definitely doesn't mean

that you should commit a crime

because you have committed to do it with a friend.

It also  doesn't mean that you keep a secret -

 from someone's parents or

from the proper authorities -

  just because you made a commitment to a secret.

God is not telling us

to do

the wrong thing.

He is always telling us

to do

the right thing.

Fulfilling your Promises

DOES

means things like:

You may have to forgo some fun activity that came up.

You might have to leave some fun activity early to honor your commitment.

You might have to get less sleep to honor your commitment.

You might make friends upset if you honor your commitment.

You might have to work late another night if you honor your commitment.

You might have to show up to an event where you will not feel comfortable - where you will feel "out of place" if you honor your commitment.

And:

Your commitment may cost you more money or more time than you realized when you made the promise.

If you feel that you made a wrong promise

or you have to break your promise,

consider the seriousness as God would see it

and

truly humble yourself and 

sincerely apologize to the people involved.

Also note:

You have to honor your commitment

even if your

emotions

aren't interested in honoring your commitment.

That includes marriage.

Even if you aren't that interested in staying married, God wants you to "GET INTERESTED" and get on your knees and start praying and start being the best spouse you can be even though it is not what you want to do.

Verse 5

He must not charge interest on money

he lends.

And he must not

take money to hurt innocent people.

Whoever does

all these things

will never be destroyed.

God wants our views on money to reflect

integrity, compassion, and

respect for God's principles.

In understanding the last sentence of Psalm 15,

look at these other translations.

KJV says - 

He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

NASB says - 

He who does these things will never be shaken.

CEV says - 

Those who do these things will always stand firm.

If this psalm makes us feel uncomfortable

or feel convicted of our sins

 - which it will for most of us - 

then God invites us to ask forgiveness

of our sins and re-dedicate our life to Jesus.

Important Note:

We cannot achieve perfection

but we can daily seek to

practice obedience to God

and when we fail,

we can repent and ask for forgiveness. 

See: 1 John 1:9 below:

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just

to forgive us our sins,

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

AND did you know that if you love yourself

it will make it easier to work on your weak areas?

Consider our page: Developing a healthy self-concept

and a Devotional: Here

People who will love themselves unconditionally

and embrace a good self-concept,

have an easier time

working on their weak areas!

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Psalm 15 was posted in September 2020