Psalm 31:1-4
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Psalm 122. He spoke to my heart as I read the Psalm concerning His House today. The psalm opens and closes with direct reference to the House of God, indicating all in between should be understood in the context of David’s love for the House of God:
Psalm 122:1 ¶ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122:9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
David’s heart was gladdened when “they said” to him, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” He vowed that he would “seek [the] good” of Jerusalem “because of the house of the LORD our God” (Psalm 122:1,9).
Favor for David’s beloved Jerusalem arose from His love for the “House of God.” He was committed to seek out every way to bless Jerusalem, to prosper her, and to beautify her, to protect, and provide for her, and the reason for this was “The House of God.”
Along the still waters, as I reflected on this Psalm, I was intrigued that David loved Jerusalem because he loved the House of God. He vowed to be the caretaker of his city because the House of God was in it. I thought of why we must protect our city, “because of the house of the LORD our God” that is in it. We must seek good for our country, and its Capital, “because” we love God’s House.
Jesus made believing Gentiles who were not “a people” to be “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10). He made the Church His Ekklesia, the administrative body of His Kingdom, and declared it to be “the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). He instructed us to plant a church in every city (Titus 1:5; to have elders in “every city” requires a church to be present). A good church brings God’s favor upon a city, and every believer ought to love his or her city “because of the house of the LORD.” After all, the Spirit of Liberty is upon His church (Acts 1:5-8; 2) and it is divinely appointed to be the “house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth” that shall make us free (John 8:32).
Many in our community are not “glad” when we say to them, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” They are indifferent, and some are offended. Only a few are glad! And that is sad. But what is sadder is that the hearts of many who call themselves His disciples are truly not “gladdened” by an exhortation to attend the assembly.
Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day; are we glad? Does it excite our hearts with gladness when someone encourages us to go with them “into the house of the LORD”? When the Shepherd speaks to our hearts, as He did in Hebrews 10:25, and says, Don’t forsake the assembly, does our heart rejoice at attending to His worship and service? Do we ask, why would you have to say such a thing? For my heart is glad to go into the House of the Lord? If He says, Attend to this matter faithfully, and increase your devotion to His assembly as you near the day of My promised return, do you groan, as if it’s a great burden He asks you to carry? He never thinks of putting on us heavy burdens. He considers His yoke easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:30). Do we?
In the valley, He assured me He has many who have not lost their first love, they have not lost their joy, they have not hardened their hearts against “My Church” (Matthew 16:15-18), the “House of God”! And because of the House of God in their city, they seek the good of their city (1 Timothy 2:1-7).
He spoke to me for a while about the burden He calls us to bear. He pointed to the “cross” that He commands us to take up daily, and reminded me that He endured it, despising the shame, for the “joy that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). I imagined Him looking at me with a sardonic smile and saying, Some of my disciples enter into the agonies of Gethsamene when their conscience is pressed to assemble in My Church! They don’t understand that I removed their burden and bore it in my own body for them. He said, Jerry, I shed my blood for the church (Acts 20:28). The Father leaned into this part of the conversation.
My heart asked Him to say it again, He did: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy followed me as I, carrying my cross, followed Him.
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
0 Comments