Let us go to the house of The Lord
rest (although I know that I will be spending hours outside clearing this
icy / winter mix….) Still, it is great to be at home with my family. Right
now I can smell banana pancakes and bacon on the griddle, almost ready to be
consumed. I also know that Lisa has placed a cake in the oven so our
“sweet-tooth” will be satisfied. I have already been blessed with time to do
a more leisurely devotional and to work out in my home gym while listening
to some music. Perhaps I’ll read today or play a game or two. The house is
warm and familiar and I am very comfortable. This is why when I am away from
it I can’t wait to get back home.
If you ask folks where there favorite place is to be, many of them will say,
“My home”. They will all have their specific reasons but a lot of them will
fall into some familiar themes; feeling safe, being with loved ones, having
access to the things we enjoy most, and comfort.
Psalm 84 helps us to consider a different dwelling place, one that is very
satisfying to the writer:
Psalm 84
For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young-
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.
May I point out some things about what was just shared?
The writer yearns, even faints to be in God’s house (likely a reference to
God’s temple) and to be close to God (his heart and flesh cry out for Him).
He has found the temple to be a place filled with praise for God and those
who are present and worship God are blessed. The writer (possibly David) has
found that the wicked have nothing to offer in comparison to God and His
place of worship and that for those who abide in God they are richly
blessed. What a wonderful Psalm to remind us how blessed we can be to go to
physical places like the church where God is worshiped. What an
encouragement is contained in these twelve verses for the heart that yearns
for God and cherishes His ordinances.
If God has blessed you with a home where you are very satisfied, then praise
Him. And if He hasn’t….praise Him anyway. And tomorrow….when you wake up
and are getting ready for church, my prayer is that you too would yearn to
be at church with God’s people, singing songs, reciting prayers, studying
God’s word….not because you have to or it is because of what you do, but
because your heart cry all week has been to be close to God and He has
answered your prayer, and now you are ready to go and praise Him with His
people. How much better it is to be in church than a thousand other places!
For Him,
The plans of God and the knowledge of man.
Hey Everyone,
has been wonderful to see how God used ordinary men to build His church and
bring glory to Himself. For me, it has been a good reminder of how The Holy
Spirit can give strength and provision to a believer that they would not
otherwise have.
Read more...
Prayer of a prison worker
a prayer from me to The Lord about what I have been facing. While you might
not work in a prison, you have your own stressors.
Read more...
Poltergeist?
just know that it was a movie about how certain forces impacted a community
in a supernatural way.
Read more...
Do you really want to find yourself?
misery.” – Matthew Arnold (poet)
Hmmm….he who finds himself, loses his misery……
Read more...
We all need a hero
yourself?” I hope it was a blessing to you and for those who never read it,
you can find it below (scroll down past the song).
Read more...
Walls, borders, and green cards
press coverage about who should be able to enter our country and under what
circumstances.
Read more...
Groping in the dark
When Lisa is asleep in the mornings I use a little flashlight to make my way
around the room so as not to disturb her. I always keep it in the same place
so that when my alarm goes off I can just reach out my hand and find it.
Read more...
Do you really want to find yourself?
misery.” – Matthew Arnold (poet)
Hmmm….he who finds himself, loses his misery……
Read more...
Hey…..I thought you were going to stay around….
Hi everyone,
This week I said goodbye to a co-worker who moved on to another position. He only worked with me for six months but to walk along side of him while attending to the difficult inmates we deal with was a true blessing. He is a psychiatrist who was just out of residency and his knowledge, “bed-side manner”, wisdom and case-management skills surpassed all of the psychiatrists I had ever worked with before. When he told me he was moving on to another position my heart sank because I had settled into the idea that we were going to work together for years to come and this made me happy. I hope you understand that the work that I do is very stressful and there is a lot of pressure on me every day to make wise decisions in my care for people. I rely on The Lord greatly because if we don’t assess someone well the results could easily be that they injure themselves or others, even to the point of death. This is why I was so glad to have this good doctor with me.
So what are we to do with the reality of what I have stated…that people move in and out of our lives and sometimes it hurts? May I suggest the following?
- Praise God for the blessing of knowing them.
- Pray for them, and in so doing, you glorify God and help them in the most powerful of ways.
- Realize that there are others in your life who will be “moving on” and make the most of that relationship now.
- Remember that you too are moving in and out of people’s lives, and when you are gone, you want to leave behind a legacy of love, care, faithfulness and honor.
The Apostle Paul moved in and out of people’s lives and left behind his own examples of yearning to see others as with the church in Rome to whom he wrote:
8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world. 9God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you. 11For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. Romans 1:8-13
I want you to know that I did not have this scripture in mind when I wrote those four points of advice above about how we should handle relationships but if you look at the highlighted sections of the verses above you will see that I have been taught much by God’s holy word and He brought these things to my mind before I ever read the passage this morning! Praise His name!
Beloved…look around you this week. Those you are used to seeing will one day be gone, perhaps before you even know it. Make the most of your time with them and in so doing you will honor God as well.
For Him,
Rob