Knowing a Holy God
“But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me.” (Psalm 5:7-8)
I read this psalm recently in my daily Bible reading, and these two verses stuck out to me. I wrote in my prayer journal, “I can know God, I can be in His presence- not for anything I have done, know, or am- but because of His steadfast love.”
I feel like “knowing God” and “being in His presence” are talked about quite often in the church. I hear these phrases so commonly that I tend to gloss over them, their meaning drained of any real significance.
I started the year in Genesis, and have slowly been reading through the Old Testament. I am now in Leviticus. I almost skipped this book, but I’m glad I didn’t. Through reading all of the laws and rules, I’ve seen God in a different light, from the perspective of the Israelite people. It has helped me to imagine how they thought about God, how they worshipped Him, and how they knew Him.
The Israelites had so many steps to follow before they could be in His presence. When reading these laws, I’ve wondered about God’s loving nature, and how “strictness” can align with the truth that He is a loving Father. Does a loving Father make it so hard to be close to Him?
And yet, the writer of Psalm 5 was living in “Old Testament” times. And somehow, he saw God’s love very clearly: “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.”
The laws were certainly difficult at times. Yet the psalmist looks deeper and sees that it is the eternal love of His God that permits Him to know Him. It wasn’t strict adherence to the law that allowed the writer of the psalm to be with God (even though the law was of great importance), it was only because of God’s love for him. God wanted to be close to him, and so He made a way for that closeness to be possible. God is holy and perfect. Without being on the “same page” with Him (perfect and holy, that is), we could never really know Him. Before Jesus, that meant regular sacrifices of animals on a physical altar. But now, the law is fulfilled in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Paul, a Hebrew who knew the law very well, wrote to the believers in Galatia explaining this:
“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus… I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:15, 20-21)
Christ died to allow us total confidence before God’s throne. When He died, our sin died with Him. When He rose to life, we rose into a new life as well. We can know God as intimately as Adam and Eve had in the garden, before sin shattered our relationship with our Creator.
Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Friends, do we live like this freedom is ours? Do we run to God as our loving Father, knowing He will scoop us up in His strong, unseen arms? Do we live as though God loves us more than we can imagine?
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. … For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:1,13-14)
If you are like me, you have sometimes found it can be difficult to make sense of the freedom we have in Christ with the requirements of the Old Testament. It’s hard to understand how the two perspectives align. Yet it is through the Old Testament that we can see more clearly the beauty of our freedom in Christ. The law is now fulfilled! The ultimate Lamb of Sacrifice has paid the price! We have an invitation to know our Heavenly Father- to know Him intimately.
“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield.” (Psalm 5:11-12)