“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors; in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt; who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.” Psalm 15

“The 15th psalm is a psalm of instruction that teaches the true understanding of the Law, the truly good life, and true good works. These are all fruits of the Spirit and of faith: to live blameless before God through true faith, to do right to the neighbor, and to turn away from the evil ways and from the hypocrisy of the ungodly, by which they serve God with fraudulent works and omit the true works. This psalm belongs to the Third Commandment, concerning the Sabbath, in which we are to hear and learn God’s Word, and it is in the Third Petition.” (Martin Luther, Reading the Psalms with Luther)

“Who may abide in your tent, your holy hill?” The idea of pitching a tent in the presence of G-d is behind the idea of “dwelling with G-d” — “remaining with G-d”. We do not deal much with tents in our society — only if we are camping, or coming into the presence of a homeless camp. All of sudden, the idea of pitching a tent changes — for the tent is the least stable and enduring of all dwellings. But for the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for forty years, their whole existence was wrapped up in a tent. The Lord dwelled in a tent — the people lived in tents. In other words, there was an inward and inter-dependence between the tent dwellers — the people needed G-d — G-d loved the people and chose to dwell with them.

“Those who do these thing shall never be moved”, says the Lord. Those who do these things will live the blameless life: through (1) personal character — doing what is right, speaking the truth, keeping one’s word; (2) loving others – not speaking poorly of others, not doing evil against friends, no discrediting of neighbors; (3) an attitude of humility — rejecting the wicked and honoring those who fear G-d; and (4) generosity — not allowing money to cloud one’s judgment.

We may never be completely blameless, but trying to follow these four intents will put us on the right path.

PRAYER

O Lord, our gracious and merciful Father, grant us steadfastly to believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior; to fearlessly confess Him before men to the reproving of the unbelieving and the wicked. Strengthen us by Your Spirit to walk honestly as in the light of day, both privately and in public. Amen.

“Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge. O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.” Psalm 14

“The 14th psalm is a psalm of prophecy and instruction that teaches us that human doctrine and a life without faith is nothing but an abomination before God. If such is worship, it is only belly worship by which the ungodly fatten themselves, devouring the good of the people. They do not know or understand anything of the true worship of God, though they teach and praise the Law of God. Moreover, they profane and blaspheme God’s Word whenever it rebukes them at all. They will listen to nothing about trust or faith in God. These people must be resisted by prayer. This prayer shall be heard, as the last verse says, and the Gospel of Christ shall come. Thus this psalm reproves especially those who tormented the people with the Law. When it speaks of the help for Zion, it is promising or prophesying of the coming of Christ, for the Gospel and the Spirit have come from Zion. This psalm belongs to the First and the Third Commandments because it praises God’s Word, promises Christ, and also reproves the hypocrites and devouring teachers or belly-teachers. It is in the First and Second Petitions, in which we pray for His name and His kingdom.” (Martin Luther, Reading the Psalms with Luther)

Foolishness in the Bible can be considered sinful. The fool’s problem is not with his brain but his heart. The fool is capable of grasping higher things, but the fool does not possess real fear. This results in what many call “practical atheism.” Practical atheism is a recognition of the presence of a higher power, but no belief that it really matters. All this produces is a dualism that must be addressed, somehow — there is a creator but this creator is too removed to care. G-d says such a person is a fool.

Any of us can fall into this state of foolishness — living in fear that there might be a G-d, but not allowing that fear to change us. And as the recognition of the presence of G-d continues to pervade our reality — more fear creeps inside our very being. Perhaps this is why we should spend more time in prayer, and in the presence of the righteous. The more we hear and experience the Grace of G-d through the presence of Jesus, in his word and in the sacraments, the more we lose the fear — and allow the Holy Spirit to build faith in our lives.

PRAYER

Lord, from Your throne on high look with a pitying eye upon us poor, sinful mortals. Preserve us, that we not be led astray by infidelity or superstition, and grant us simplicity of faith to receive the Gospel of Your Son, who has the words of eternal life, that in Him we may be Yours in time and eternity. Amen.