A quick post sharing my thoughts and prayers from a Lectio Divina practice in Psalm 24:3–6 with Matthew 5:8 tagged on the end.

Read your passage

Psalm 24:3–6 (ESV)

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

Matthew 5:8 (ESV)
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Did any words or phrases stand out during your reading?

• who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
• who shall stand in His holy place?
• clean hands and a pure heart
• swear deceitfully
• who seek the face of the God of Jacob

Engage the passage with your imagination. Can you imagine yourself within the scene of the text?

• ascend the hill –– I imagine the act of climbing. The hill is green. There are both clouds and sun in the sky. Ascending means to go up.
• holy place –– the clam of peace and the fear of the LORD; the place where eternity is, where we go but time doesn’t go with us
• clean hands and a pure heart –– I notice my hands are dirty on the ascent, but those coming down the hill have clean and radiant hands. I feel insecure and aware of myself.
• the face of the God of Jacob –– I wonder what it will be like to look upon God’s face, to look into His eyes and see Him looking at me

How might the passage be inviting you to respond?

My invitation is to sit in stillness and silence with the Lord so that He has room and time to speak, so that He can clean my hands and purify my heart as I become aware of who I truly am.

Respond to God in prayer

O God, how high is it to ascend Your hill? How glamorous is Your holy place? How could I conceive of entering? How dirty are my hands, Lord? I see dirt and grit covering them. The texture of my palms and fingerprints are filled with mud, grit, and stain. I have it caked under my finger nails and along my cuticles. Every crease of my hand is dirty, and I am aware of my filth. I am aware of what separates me from Your holy place. From what separates me from You. Yet there You are, Christ my Lord, approaching me with a white towel, a bucket of water, and a smile. I see You looking at me. You take my hands and begin to clean. You clean, and clean, and clean. Such tender care you take; taking such attention to detail. How many towels did you need? How many buckets of water did you go through to clean my dirty hands? How much time did you spend with me? At one point You look up at me and say “it is My joy to take care of you and clean you.” In the love of Christ we feel the Father’s love.