The Unshakable Man (Psalm 15)

As I approach my 40th birthday (wow, that feels like a big number), I am more and more reflective of my own life.

Where I’ve been. What I’ve learned. Who I’m becoming.

Self-reflection is easy to get stuck in, but there are times where it is not only helpful, it is entirely necessary.

Why? Because our heart often deceives us. Our thoughts and emotions can lead us in a wrong direction. And we tend to be great revisionists of our own lives — we see ourselves in a better light than we may deserve.

This means we need — I need — a different measuring tool to determine if we are becoming the people we want and need to be.

Thankfully, this is where the Bible comes in.

God’s Word presents us with a clear picture of what a Godly man and woman looks like. God’s Word challenges us, teaches us, and forces us to take an honest look at who we really are. It “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).

Psalm 15 gives us a powerful picture of what a Godly and holy person looks like. It begins with a question:

Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
Who may live on your holy mountain?
(Psalm 15:1)

Here, David the author likely has the tabernacle of God in his mind. The tabernacle- which sat on the high point of Gibeon — was where God’s people would come to meet with God and where the priests would make sacrifices for the people’s sins.

With this picture in mind, the heart of David’s question becomes clear: who is really holy enough to be with God? What qualities allow a man to be in a right relationship with a perfectly righteous God?

David answers with a profound list of qualities:

The one whose walk is blameless,
who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart;
whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbor,
and casts no slur on others;
who despises a vile person
but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
and does not change their mind;
who lends money to the poor without interest;
who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
(Psalm 15:2–5a)

The list reads like a “how-to” of right living. David says the person who can dwell with the Lord is:

• Blameless in his living.
• Truthful in all matters.
• A good and fair neighbor.
• Patient with others.
• True to his word.
• Generous.
• Upright even in the face of temptation.

Overwhelmed yet?

It’s a great list. But man, it feels like a lot to live up to.

This is where we can see the words of Psalm 15 through a new prism — the prism of the Gospel. Because the New Testament tells us a story of a man who did all these things and more, who lived perfectly and died a sacrificial death for sinners like you and me.

That man was Jesus, the very son of God, whose life becomes the model and the means for our own right living. We are saved by grace through faith in this Jesus, and not through our own efforts.

It’s why, in John 14:6 Jesus says this: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

To answer the question of Psalm 15, the one who can dwell in the house of the Lord is the one who goes through Jesus.

That’s great news that frees us from a religious life trying to “earn” our way to God.

So what do we do with David’s list then? Do we throw it all out? Is Psalm 15 null and void?

No, in fact, the words of David in this Psalm become a mirror — a tool of reflection of where we are at in allowing God to transform us. It is a reminder that our call is to be and live like Jesus — the one in whom we have access to a relationship with God.

I am grateful that I don’t have to check all the boxes of Psalm 15 in order to be right with God. But I also can’t simply rest on the fact that I’ve been forgiven and saved and stop striving to live in the way Jesus modeled.

Jesus was blameless in his living. Jesus was truthful in everything he did. Jesus with patient with others, true to his word and stood fast in the face of temptation.

A life built on Jesus, and lived like Jesus, is exactly the life David is speaking of in Psalm 15.

And it’s the life I want to learn to live.

Whoever does these things
will never be shaken.
(Psalm 15:5b)