PBPC Daily - Friday, April 17

Dear Friends, good morning and welcome to Friday. 

A couple of years ago I started spending regular time in the Psalms, and they have become a source of great inspiration and comfort for me.

The Psalms have been described as Israel's hymnbook, the poetry which the Jews had used for worship for a thousand years by the time of Jesus. Jesus and his friends likely knew most of the Psalms by heart, from a lifetime of hearing them read and sung. The words of the Psalms are a rich gift of God to His people; they become a form of conversational prayer, in which God speaks to us and we are given words to speak to God.

Psalm 84 speaks of the joy of worship in the Temple:

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O Lord of hosts!
² My soul longs, indeed it faints
   for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
   to the living God.

³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
   my King and my God.
⁴ Happy are those who live in your house,
   ever singing your praise.

The heart has found its true home in the presence of God. The Temple was considered the place of God's presence on earth, and there was nothing in life that could compare to being with God in that sacred space. However, with the death and resurrection of Jesus, the separation between God and humanity has been torn apart. You and I are now the Temple of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

The words of this Psalm can now apply not only to the times when we are together in the sanctuary worshiping God, but also when we are by ourselves in God's presence.

¹⁰ For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than live in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

   he bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does the Lord withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
¹² O Lord of hosts,

   happy is everyone who trusts in you.

My prayer for all of us today is that we would find our deepest satisfaction in knowing God and living in His presence. I pray that these also become our deepest desires.

Have a blessed day,

Pastor Chris