Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am in Deming, New Mexico with CitiLife church. We had a great weekend, and I am expecting our gathering tonight to be filled with God’s presence, purpose, and will. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we have the mind of Christ within us. We were inspired by the Holy Spirit yesterday and I know that Jesus will be seen again today in our lives and in our gathering together.
Last week I addressed some thoughts concerning being a doorkeeper at the entrance of God’s house. People in the world are bound to a history and inheritance of aimless wandering but God has invited everyone into a life of knowing Him and an inheritance of eternal life and peace. God wants everyone to know Him in an intimate and powerful way. To be a doorkeeper in the house of God is to stand at a place where you invite others to come and experience the goodness of dwelling in the presence of God as you do.
Psalms 84:10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
There is another important aspect to remember when considering the fact that this Scripture is relating the believer to a doorkeeper. You can only be a doorkeeper if you have been fully accepted into the house. Having been in, you want to call others in as well. Being a “doorkeeper” implies the responsibility of ‘keeping’ the door. It is a place of ‘responsibility’. You have ceased your endless journey of aimless conduct and you want to invite others to do the same. You have been ‘entrusted’ to bear the responsibility of inviting others into God’s place of dwelling. It is only those who have tasted the abundance of God’s life that God would trust to be keepers of the entrance to that life. A doorkeeper is someone who lives his or her life for the purpose of others. Having tasted the good life of God, they now live to invite others to that life. I believe that the truth of the context of this verse in Psalms can be found where Paul, an apostle, was faced with the dilemma of not knowing whether to go to be with the Lord, or to stay and be a doorkeeper for the sake of the saints.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.
The context of the goodness of this verse in Psalms is verified in the following verses of Psalms 84. Having no good thing withheld is hardly a testimony of poverty or of ‘almost’ making it into the presence of the Lord’s dwelling. Those who trust in Him find the fullness of God’s blessing!
Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
When the psalmist says that the Lord God is a sun and shield, he is implying that God is life (sun) and protection (shield) to all who walk in a relationship with Him. This is hardly a testimony of slavery, servant hood, labor, or anything that is short of entering into the full blessing of God in His presence. The word for “blessed” in verse 12 is the Hebrew word “esher”. It means “happiness; only in masc. plur. constr. as interjec., how happy!” This is hardly the scenario of one looking at the presence of God from merely the doorway. It is rather the picture of one who is boldly inviting others to come and partake of the abundant life that they have come to know in His place of dwelling.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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This is a now revelation to me. Great word
The house is great! Let’s be doorkeepers with welcoming hearts filled with His life-giving presence!