The Mirror of the Word by C.E. White can be purchased here: https://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Word-Devotions-Reveal-Refine/dp/B0DFZS83C7  To learn more about this author and other works, visit https://cewhitebooks.com/

“Who may ascend onto the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in his holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to deceit and has not sworn deceitfully.”

—Psalm 24:3–4

“Lifting up our soul” is what we do when we offer ourselves up to a thing—when we make it our master and trust it to bring about our desired results. Several times in the Psalms, David says, “To you, Lord, I lift up my soul” (Psalm 25:1; Psalm 86:4; Psalm 143:8).

It’s easy to lift our souls up to false things, to hope in our own schemes and plans instead of lifting up our souls to the Lord and trusting him. We want to control the outcomes.

But when we trust ourselves and lift up our souls to other things to attempt our purposes and find fulfillment, we guarantee a lesser good and less satisfaction. When we lift up our souls to anything but the Lord, we “labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

Psalm 24:7 goes on to say, “Lift up your heads, you gates, and be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!”

Lifting up our souls and heads to him is an invitation giving our Lord full access to our lives. And when we invite him, the King of glory will come. He will guide and lead us to his own holy place; our own purposes are guaranteed no such grand outcomes, but in him, we have a sure hope that will not fail.

Let us turn our souls and heads away from the false, deceitful hopes and to the only sure one—God himself.

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