Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. – Psalms 24:7 KJV
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The scripture for today is what can be considered as the third part of the 24th Chapter of the book of Psalms. Whereas, the first part emphasised the ownership of the earth as belonging to the Lord because He, it was that founded and laid its foundation upon the waters – Ps. 24:1-2. The second part of the psalm goes further to establish the attributes of the kind of individual that can meet with this God describing such as one that has clean hands, pure heart, does not lift his soul unto vanity nor swear deceitfully – Ps. 24:3-7. This is the kind of person that the psalmist says, can receive blessings and righteousness from the Lord describing them as the generation of them that seek the Almighty God.
Having defined the personality of God and attributes of the generation of those that seek Him, the Psalmist then decrees that obstacles that can be the barrier between this great God and those who diligently seek Him be lifted. These obstacles he described as Gates and Everlasting doors.
In these two different obstacles but yet with similar functionalities, the Psalmist identifies what seems to be the remaining major hindrances before the Christian, in manifesting the glory of this great God, who is the creator of heaven and earth calling them Gates and Everlasting Doors. Although, both serve as control points for smooth access into a place, they are actually at two different levels. Whereas, gates enter into what can be described as a compound as it is attached usually to a fence, doors perform their roles at the point of entry into a building or room. So these two obstacles remain major hindrances to the faithful Christian accessing the glory of the Almighty God, as they restrict Him from coming into the life of such a person.
The Psalmist in this last four verses of Psalm 24 (Ps. 24:7-10) thus decrees that these two obstacles be lifted as they remain the last levels of obstacle restricting the king of glory from coming into the life of such a person. Whereas, the person has come to the Lord meeting the four earlier stated conditions, God cannot come into such person because of these Gates and Doors. John in his write-up on his spiritual experience in the island of Patmos reports the Lord as saying, He is standing at the door and knocking waiting for whoever hears the knock to open the door, so as to allow for His coming in – Rev. 3:20
Both scriptures reveal that it is possible to recognise and accept the Almighty God as the only god, have clean hands and pure heart, not lift up one’s soul to vanity and swear deceitfully, but still not be able to enjoy the company of the Almighty God. The Psalmist says it is because of gates and everlasting doors. So what can these doors be. They are basic personal habits or beliefs of the person and hardly have anything to do with enemies of any sort. People may believe that spells can be cast by an enemies but that is impossible for someone who has already received righteousness from the Almighty God – Ps. 24:5. One of those gates and doors will be the focus of our devotion today as the other doors will be discussed in second part of this devotion and it is the door of ignorance.
Ignorance which means to lack knowledge and awareness, remains a major gate or door that must be opened for the king of glory to have access to the life of the Christian. The Bible confirms that God’s children are easily destroyed by this – Hos. 4:6. Most Christians have shunned knowledge acquisition which remains the only key that can open the door of ignorance. Even God advised Joshua to spend time acquiring knowledge as that remains the only source of good success – Josh. 1:8. It is impossible to have good and sustained success when one is in ignorance. Christians must constantly seek knowledge, for the glory of God to be able to enter their lives else (Jer. 2:13), they may end up living the life of Lazarus who lived a poor life on this earth due to what seems like ignorance of who he was or what he was capable of achieving in his righteous state – Lk. 16: 19-31.
May God grant us the knowledge required to open the gate and door of ignorance in our lives in Jesus name so that the glory of God may come in. Amen.
