SCRIPTURE
Psalm 24:3-4 - "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.


OBSERVATION
This is a really interesting observation about those who are able to go to the "hill of the Lord", which was the place where the tabernacle was set up and where God's presence was in the Old Testament. There had been so many laws set into place with stipulations about who could enter the tabernacle - people who brought animal offerings, made sacrifices, etc. But the observation here is that really, God was more interested about the heart issues and not the physical actions, because dealing with the heart issues would automatically affect the physical actions. God was more interested in purity and a lack of deceit in the lives of those who would enter His presence.


APPLICATION
We need to grasp the concept that as we endeavor to live pure lives before the Lord, that is what is most pleasing to Him, instead of focusing just on external actions. As we focus on the conditions of our hearts, our external actions will automatically change and be transformed into His likeness. And sometimes, the only way that we can actually experience purity is to come to God first, to run to Him instead of away from Him, so that He can cleanse us and then continue to enter into His presence in a deeper way. If we continue to run away from God, we will never become like Him. As we run to Him with our sins and faults, we can be changed by Him.

PRAYER
God, help us to run to You, not from You, in our weakest moments, knowing that only You can cleanse and purify, and only You can transform us to be more like You. We can only experience Your presence as we continue to be cleansed by You.