Psalm Photos - 15 - Promises
Psalm 15
O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
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The times I read this passage today, I kept going back to the line “who stand by their oath even to their hurt.” And immediately, I went to the ring that I wear on my finger. The ring that my wonderful wife gave me nearly 14 years ago when we made our vows to one another. I did not realize until I was in seminary that those who enter into the priesthood or become nuns also receive a ring - they receive a ring signifying their marriage to Christ and the vows that they take.
The remainder of this Psalm could almost be seen as an opposite of the words of Paul in 1 Cor 13 about the aspects of love that are so often read in weddings - Love is patient, kind, holds no records of wrongs, rejoices with the truth, etc. I have always read that passage as a picture not only of the love between two people in marriage, but even more so of God’s love for us as well as the love that we are called to have for others and returned to God.
May my day be a day of love in these ways, bound by the vows that I took to my wife and the vows that I have taken to serve and love Christ and others.