Read: Psalm 24
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? (v. 3)
I was scrambling up a mountain in Banff National Park. The valley below me looked small and far away, and my knees were trembling. I clung to a rock and looked up at the mountain frowning down on me. There was no way up, I realized. No way to reach the summit. I had to turn around and head back down.
“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?” That is the question burning in the psalmist’s pen. Who can approach the maker of high mountains and rumbling thunder and raging rivers—and live? He answers himself in verse 4, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” In short, none of us are worthy (Rev. 5:2-3). None of us, in our sin-sick state, can climb that holy hill and look into the face of God. Can any but Christ truly say they have clean hands and a pure heart?
Yet there is a wonderful hope. We may not be able to ascend to God, but God graciously descends to us. All throughout the Bible, mountains are these places of descent, symbolizing thin spaces between heaven and earth where God comes to meet his children. The king of glory, the psalmist declares, is at the gates ready to come surging in (Ps. 24:7). Journey with me over the next couple of weeks as we explore the mountains of the Bible and discover the God who descends in order that he might raise us up with him (Eph. 2:5-6).
As you pray, give thanks to God who reaches for us when we can’t reach him.
Justin Kuiper is a student from Holland, MI, studying English literature at Hope College. His own writing explores the many intersections of faith, storytelling, and the created order. Justin is a life-long soccer fan and plays on the Hope College soccer team.
