“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.”
—Psalm 5:4-7

These are verses that I would be tempted to skip over if I hadn’t taken the commitment to work through the Psalms verse-by-verse.

And I’m glad I didn’t skip over them.

You see, these verses remind us of an essential truth: those who do evil cannot dwell with God. They can’t stand in his presence.

This is a much-needed reminder to not minimize sin or its consequences.

Good and evil exist, and God defines which is which.

Now, this could be very depressing news, because under this standard, none of us reading this could be close to God.

Simply put, we’re not perfect.

I love verse 7 because it reminds us of the variable that changes everything: God’s love.

David doesn’t say that he will enter God’s house (the place of his presence) because he is without fault. He says that he will enter “through the abundance of (God’s) steadfast love.”

A love that covers a multitude of sins.

So this is the invitation for those of us reading this today: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16a).

Here is a short prayer to help you invite God into every moment of your day:

Inhale: You covered my imperfection;
Exhale: So I could be close to you.