Belonging: Living with God on His Holy Hill

“Who may live on your holy hill?” Psalm 15:1

Psalm 15 gives a wonderful picture of a place I want to be: a place where people speak truthfully and from their hearts; where there is no lying, where neighbors live in harmony, where people honor and respect each other, where those in power have no time for exploitation or abuse. Sounds great; how do I get in?

God’s Holy Hill is that which the human heart most deeply longs for: a place of perfect belonging. Yet, according to this Psalm, it is a place that we are distinctly unqualified for. If I were to enter this place, I would ruin it. I hide my true feelings from others; I put on a mask. I know that my thoughts and motives are often selfish, and selfishness destroys belonging.

I can’t climb God’s Holy Hill myself, but I can acknowledge my inconsistencies. I can be open and vulnerable about my failures, and allow God’s Spirit to deal with them.

Jesus spent His time on earth forging connections with people, with ordinary, vulnerable, hurting, inconsistent, broken people. They didn’t have to be perfect to be accepted by Him. They just had to respond to His ministry. And Jesus’ acceptance brought them to God’s Holy Hill, where they could belong perfectly.

Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? She had been rejected by her community for her poor life choices, but Jesus repaired her relationship with her community, and her relationship with God. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’” (John 4:39) Jesus accomplished the woman’s rehabilitation by exposing—and purging—her secrets.

• Pray for God’s help in taking a small step toward vulnerability today, dropping the mask that requires such an effort to keep up.
• Show compassion toward someone else whose failure has been exposed. They’re no different from you!

Come humbly to God’s Holy Hill.