Everywhen

(Psa 84:1 KJV)  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

We spend millions designing and building church buildings.  Historically they were works of art and the results of years of devotion and hard work.  Buildings for worship were expected to glorify God and lift our physical senses into the heavenlies.  Or at least we used to be concerned with that.  Today it seems that any warehouse will do as long as you have a professional level set of speakers, some bright spot lights and maybe a fog machine.

I have no problem at all with people who meet in their homes or a gym they can afford to rent.  Often that is the best you can do.  Many times it is a statement of our sense of the divine along with the torn fashion jeans of the preacher and the brand name coffee cups in the pews.

Although this verse praises the place of worship as being “lovely” (3039) I think the real sentiment is expressed because of the presence of God, not the gold on the altar.  In fact the word for “lovely” is usually translated “lovable” or “beloved”.

So?  We can worship anywhere God is willing to meet us.  Great architecture can help but He is willing to join us anywhere we are that our hearts are right.  May you have joyful worship, everywhere and every when.

About Face

(Psa 73:17 KJV)  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

(Proverbs 13 also read)

If you read the first half of this Psalm, you find nothing but despair.  The author looks at the prosperous lives of the wicked and wonders.  Where is God?  Then he comes into the sanctuary and everything is refocused and put in a different order.

Why do we come to worship?  Obviously we come to praise God, and to lift him up.  But in addition to that there is the presence of God speaking to us, and opening our eyes to eternity, and to what God has planned for us and for His world.  When we come to worship, when we come into the sanctuary, in our day and age, when we attend church, things look different.

Is it just appearance?  Is it just our imagination?  Is it just our feelings?  No, God simply makes us more aware of who He is and what He is doing.

So? Don’t abandon the means of grace that are extended to us by coming to the sanctuary and worshiping the living God.  He will meet with us.  He will speak to us.  He will help us to see things as they are, and not as we feel them to be.

A Resource

(Psa 83:17 KJV)  Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

I would say that the forces of evil or justice are today as they were in the time of the Psalms.  I’m not sure I would say more active, but they are certainly busy persecuting and holding down the people of God.  At this point, they tend to have the forces of the government and the media and education behind them.  All we have of course, is our God.

That should be enough.  It is enough.  We need to pray for our government and be supportive of our government, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t ask God to confound them and trouble them so they would be full of shame and ready to obey.

So? Our concerns should start with prayer.  Our hope is in Christ and in the God of eternity, not in our political savvy. 

Joyful ignorance

(Psa 71:15 KJV)  My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

(Proverbs 11 also read)

What a great joy it is to know that we can never even begin to approach the blessings that God has for us.  Here David, or whoever is writing this Psalm, is rejoicing, in the fact that he can speak about the righteousness of God.  He can talk about his salvation.  And yet he admits his ignorance about how glorious and how eternal this is.

That’s where we should be. We should be rejoicing in what we do know, and getting excited about the things that we do not know.  And I might say that we don’t know yet, or I might even say that we will never comprehend the total of what God has for us.

So?  Are you living in joy?  Are you living in ignorance?  I am living in joyful ignorance, content in what I do know now and the Person that I know forever. 

Father Mold

(Pro 10:1 KJV)  The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

As I read this this morning, I knew that I was not reading what it actually said.  There was some thing about what I was hearing in my head that just didn’t ring true, so I looked again.  What I was hearing was that a wise son would grow up to be a glad father.  Actually the statement is a little bit different than that so take it with a grain of salt.  Consider it a preaching point.  I think it is spiritualizing.  I still think there’s some truth in it.

If we are wise fathers, then we will raise wise children.  At least I hope that’s true.  At any means having a son brought up wise, will certainly make me as a glad father.

So?  Learn to be wise.  Set an example.  You may produce a wise son, which will certainly make you glad.

A Big Question

Psalms 8:4 (KJV) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

I am sure we have all heard this question asked.  Have we ever really gotten an answer?  I start asking this question when I read the creation story and see that we are created in the image of God.  What does that mean?  Why were we created?

If you look at this chapter, you don’t find an answer.  Does that mean that we quit asking?  No, I don’t think so.  I think we continue wondering.  We continue thinking about the glory of God and his creative power.  He made us as a group the way we are.  He molded us as individuals as we respond to Him.

So?  Seek him daily.  Listen.  Respond.  Be the answer to the big question. 

Worldwide

(Pro 8:16 KJV)  By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

Is there a body of knowledge which we call wisdom that is available through the entire earth, even to those who don’t know the God of the Bible?  This verse would seem to imply that.  This talks about judges of the Earth.  Now, princes and nobles might just refer to Israel, but when you say all the judges of the Earth, you go beyond those borders.

Is wisdom cross-cultural?  Is it something that God has placed in the hearts of all men?

So? There a certain principles that seem to be universal.  That should be something that makes us get along better with those who disagree with us on specifics.