Bible Commentaries

DELIGHT IN GOD’S HOUSE

‘A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.’

Psalms 84:10

The psalm is probably one of those used by the pilgrims on their way to the Holy City on some festival occasion. Men had not learned the truth that God is a Spirit, and could be worshipped in spirit. Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship, and those who lived at a distance were able to come up only at the great festivals. As the pilgrim arrives within sight of the sacred place he cries out in the language of the Psalmist, ‘How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!… My heart and my flesh sing for joy unto the living God.’ Then as he enters the sacred precincts he feels envious of those who spend their whole lives in the temple service, and cries, ‘Happy are they that dwell in Thy house! They can be always praising Thee.’ Living far away he can only occasionally enjoy the privileges of worship which are theirs every day.

I. How far does this spirit exist to-day?—The empty seats in our churches if but a shower of rain falls an hour before service time, would seem to indicate that the means of grace are not prized as they should be. There is a danger that the multiplication of our privileges leads to neglect.

II. While it is true that God is everywhere, and can be worshipped in any place, there is a special sense in which, to us, He is present in the church, and if we neglect the assembling of ourselves together we shall lose the blessing that comes from the ‘communion of saints.’—If we enter the house of God in the spirit of prayer, with hearts open to receive the Divine blessing, He will not send us empty away. Jesus promised that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in the midst of them. If we realise, even in a small degree, what the presence of Jesus means, we shall not be willing to allow a trifle to keep us away from His sanctuary.

Illustrations

(1) ‘The house of God is an ante-room of heaven, or, in other words, a bit of heaven on this side of heaven! God loves His house intensely, and if we do not love it, it is because we do not love God! The Bible gives more space to the erection of the tabernacle and the temple than to the creation of the world!’

(2) ‘The Scottish Covenanters would not be absent from worship, although their presence meant not only that they had to brave a winter storm as they met under the open sky, but often they were threatened with imprisonment or death as breakers of the law. Dr. Theodore Cuyler once declared that disagreeable Sundays sifted the churches as honestly as Gideon’s band of ten thousand soldiers was sifted by the lapping of the water. “Those,” he said, “who really want to go to God’s house on a wet or wintry Sunday, usually get there.”’