The ark of God had been out of the city of Jerusalem for many years. It was stolen in battle by the Philistines and given back shortly after because God’s wrath had fallen on their lands. Sadly, it had been resting just miles outside of Jerusalem for 20 years until David became King. Because David had a heart after God, he knew that the presence of God must come back to the people of God. Most believe that this psalm was written in correlation with the ark coming back to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. The picture and outline that Psalm 24 gives us is vital for our worship today.

Too often today we gather to worship without much thought or preparation. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it…all who live in it.” There is a reason this is the first line of the psalm. Even before we gather with fellow believers, we must realize that God awoke us this morning. We breathe God-air. We walk on His ground. We see the colors He made. Let us prepare our hearts with praise for who He is and all He has done. We are His.

Verses 3-6:
We see ourselves in view of God’s holiness.

David knew this full well. He had witnessed those who had touched the ark of God and died immediately - even Uzzah, who was only trying to keep it from falling over on the journey back. His hand reached out to catch it and WHAM! it was over for him. David was awe-struck in the presence of God. It is fitting that he would write, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” The answer? “He who has clean hands and pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol, who does not swear by what is false.” Jesus even echoed this in Matthew 5 when he proclaimed, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Once again, how serious are we about this in our worship? True believers are honest with themselves, honest before people, and honest with God. Clean hands do not come with a new and better song to sing, or another bible study to attend.