Abide

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
– Psalm 15:1

Abide. It sounds like a church word, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s just me, since most of the words I use end up being church words at some point. Even so, I recall Jesus making use of the word, or at least its Aramaic equivalent. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). To abide means more than being present; it means being present in an ongoing fashion. It suggests persistence, an enduring agreement or relationship.

Back to the question. Who can abide in the dwelling place of God. Who can abide on the holy hill of God? The English Standard Version of the Bible answers with, “He who walks blamelessly” (15:2). That quickly eliminates me! The New American Standard Bible might be more promising, translating the same phrase, “He who walks with integrity.” Okay, maybe I can meet the integrity requirement without being absolutely blameless. Still, it is a pretty high bar to meet. Is there a reason the bar can’t be lowered? Why not “The one who is generally thought by her or his peers to be a good person?”

It seems to me that the answer may have to do with the compatibility of two things trying to occupy shared space. For example, you can put two or more animals (fish, reptiles, etc.) in the same containment space as long as they are compatible. That basically means they will not be in conflict. One will not tend to provoke or threaten another. When you are at the pet store, notice that male Betta fish are always kept in individual bowls. Why? Aggressive behavior is too likely if they are put together. They don’t share the same space well.

It shouldn’t surprise us that the same dynamic is at work with God. When we talk about abiding in God’s presence, we are talking about shared space. The idea of incompatibility between sinfulness and holiness is woven through scripture. It was portrayed through the Levitical instruction requiring priests to be cleansed before entering the tabernacle or inner sanctuary of the Temple. The apostle Paul addresses this among Christians (2 Corinthians 6:14): “for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” When the psalmist asks, “who can abide on God’s holy hill?” he is considering the compatibility issue.

Knowing that God is supremely holy, and that God’s holiness will never be compromised (i.e. the bar will never be lowered), the psalmist’s response should be expected. Everything following verse one in Psalm 15 touches on what holiness looks like in our lives. Should our lives look like what the psalm describes? Of course. CAN our lives look like what the psalm describes? Yes, even to significant degrees. Will we fall short on occasion? Yes, but at least we KNOW what a life of abiding with God looks like.

Now for the “chicken/egg” question. Which comes first, the abiding or the holiness? Reading the psalm it would suggest that holiness (integrity, blamelessness, etc.) precedes abiding. However if we go back to the words of Jesus in John 15 we might think differently. Verse 4 was shared above. Let me supplement with verse 5b, where Jesus says, “he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing“. Asking me to produce my own holiness would be kind of like asking darkness to light up a room. It’s not going to happen. If I want to light up a room, I go to a source of light. So if you feel unworthy to abide in God’s presence, take heart in knowing that God invites you to come, to abide, and to allow Him to work in you. As it has been said, God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. If He has called you, He will qualify you to abide on His holy hill.