We live in a world of authentication. You enter your pin number when you withdraw cash from an ATM. You enter a username and password on your favorite online marketplace. When the website passes that information across the internet the package of information is validated and encrypted to ensure its authenticity. When meeting a long lost friend we ask, “Is that really you?” When soldiers communicate on radios they use codenames and passwords to ensure they are talking to the people they think they are talking to.
If you want to join an exclusive club you must meet the qualifications. The application process, whatever it is, weeds out those who don’t measure up. Some clubs can’t be joined unless you know someone who knows someone. It takes a personal word from an insider to get you noticed and accepted. Some groups even have secret qualifications. It can be pretty hard to know if you can get in if you don’t know what the standards are.
One type of worship song takes the form of a call and response. The leader begins with their line and then everyone else joins in with the response. It appears as though today’s psalm is just such a worship song. Each time the leader began with the question who, the congregation would get ready to give the appropriate response. We don’t know exactly who said which lines, but you can get a good idea.
But what we do know is that the responses give us a glimpse into their understanding of the entrance requirements into the LORD’s presence. The first one involves knowing who owns everything. The answer is the LORD. We learn this from the first two verses. We also see that He gets the credit for victory in battle starting in verse seven.
It is thought that this song would have been sung as people were traveling to Jerusalem for one of the required festivals each year. They would sing this as they walked, kind of like the songs soldiers sing as they march in formation. It would hold them together, unify them, help them understand the purpose of their journey. The younger members would become part of the group when they learned the words and sang along. They were no longer children; they were part of the worshiping community that was traveling together to worship the LORD.
Who is qualified to go into God’s presence? Only those with clean hands and a pure heart, specifically those who have not been involved in idolatry. Now before you tell me you don’t have a carved statue around your house anywhere, idolatry involves putting anything but the LORD in the control booth of your life. If you are every trusting in your own genius, your own resources to get out of trouble, you trust an idol. If prayer isn’t your first response, idolatry could be part of your life.
There is a blessing available to those who meet this simple qualification. We get to be part of what He is doing in the world. So as they traveled to the city, they would sing this song. It sounds as though it was sung when they got to the gates of the city, as a way to signal that they were insiders and not an enemy. Who is the King? The LORD! Open up the doors!
Here in the West we don’t need any passwords to enter a worship service or Bible study and prayer group. But there are places today where authentication is needed, places where being a Jesus-follower gets you killed. Only those invited can come. Only those qualified get the password. And it takes knowing someone personally and getting their recommendation.
Would you be allowed in?
The Arnold Journey 