Week 3 Psalm 13
David begins: Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? The answer he gets is that anyone who practiced the following 11 Qualities qualified to live on the Lord’s holy hill. (The list of 11 Qualities is in 5:2-5 and it’s a pretty interesting list that covers a lot of real life activities. Functional ethics.)
Anyway the psalm ends by saying that if a guy does these 11 Qualities then he will never be shaken. I already know from the first verse that if I do the 11 Qualities then I qualify to dwell in the Lord’s sanctuary. But at the very end I see that if I do the 11 Qualities then I’ll also never be shaken.
So it’s Both-And. If I do the 11 Qualities then I qualify to dwell in the Lord’s sanctuary AND then I will also never be shaken. Both-And.
Getting the double-barreled outcome is pretty nice. But I wondered for a second: if this was an Either-Or statement which would I pick? If I do the 11 Qualities then I’ll qualify to either a) dwell in the Lord’s sanctuary or b) never be shaken. Dwelling in the Lord’s sanctuary is pretty desirable for sure. On the other hand I like the idea of not getting shaken up by things.
But I don’t spend much time thinking about it. I figure that a) it’s an irrelevant exercise and that b) my bigger concern is trying to practice the 11 Qualities.
Note: quotes from Psalm 15:1 5 (NIV)