“LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1)
What a great question! And God gives us His answers. First, to live in close fellowship with God, we must be born again. Otherwise, our soul and spirit are disconnected from communication with God because of the law of sin and death. So this psalm was clearly written for those who already belong to Him. But, I know from experience, that it’s possible to be born again and yet, live without close fellowship with God. I did it for years.
I never want to go back to that misery!
Psalm 15 gives us such a simple way to understand how to have close fellowship with God! David asks the simple question:
“LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1)
To “abide” and “dwell” mean to be welcomed as a guest—someone invited into close, comfortable fellowship, not someone merely tolerated at a distance. This distant relationship is what I used to experience. I was an anxiety-riddled born again believer. Ugh!
So how do we get to this place of close fellowship with God? Well, first we must understand that “godliness” is not simply a private transaction between you and God that nobody else can see. If our fellowship with God is real, it NEVER stays hidden. It cannot. It shows up in how we speak, how we treat people, and how we live. The Psalmist goes on to answer this question about who can have fellowship with God by saying:
“He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” (Psalm 15:2)
Walking uprightly means living according to God’s righteous standard, not our own shifting “truth.” The proof of our fellowship with God shows up—it’s in our speech. When God’s Word is truly written on the heart and pressed deep into the mind, it doesn’t stay tucked away. It surfaces in how we talk to people, how we talk about people, and how we carry ourselves when we think no one’s listening.
I’ve watched this play out in my own life more times than I’d like to admit.
My tongue simply cannot hide what’s actually in the heart. David goes further:
“He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.” (Psalm 15:3)
That’s convicting. Not gossiping, not harming a neighbor, not even repeating a reproach someone else started—all of it traces back to the same root. The tongue reveals the character of the heart every single time. Then David moves from speech to something even costlier—our word and our commitments:
“He who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” (Psalm 15:4)
This is where I’ve had to check myself. It’s one thing to keep a promise when it’s convenient. It’s another thing entirely to keep it when it costs more than I bargained for. David is describing a person whose values don’t match the world’s values, and that mismatch becomes visible in the way they honor their word even at their own personal expense. Finally, David lands on money:
“He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.” (Psalm 15:5)
I’ve come to see this as one of the surest indicators of where a person actually stands with God. How we handle money—whether we use it to lift others up or to take advantage of them—says more about our closeness to God than almost anything else. God gives generously and never exploits us. So if we’re truly near Him, exploiting others simply won’t be in our behavior. And then comes the promise, the reason any of this is worth pursuing:
“He who does these things shall never be moved.” (Psalm 15:5)
God is never shaken by circumstances—not by chaos, not by uncertainty, not by whatever the world throws at Him. The closer we walk with Him, the more His steadfastness becomes ours.
We’re not unshaken because life gets easier, but because we’re living in God’s presence.
Prayer:
Lord, let my speech reveal a heart that’s truly Yours—every conversation, every judgment I’m tempted to pass, every word I speak about the people around me. Teach me to keep my word even when it costs me more than I expected, and to use what You’ve given me with open hands instead of a grasping heart. Lord, addict me to Your presence so I may live freely for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
