FOR A DAY IN YOUR COURTS OH, LORD

Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

God’s favorite test with us seems to be on loyalty. At one time or another in our lives, His Spirit takes us to a place of decision; a decision that reflects the quantum sum of our strength, or of our weakness. At that moment, we are asked to choose between God and personal interests. The choice may be between settling for the good versus striving for the best; or between temporal, instant gratification, versus eternal future happiness. One thing is certain, it is usually a choice that involves personal sacrifice.

When the Lord brings us to that place, He lays out a path that leads to a promised land. This prospect gives us the necessary incentive to climb the hill of ‘difficulty’, to cross the desert of ‘hardship’, and to conquer the evil beasts of ‘impossibility, failure and doubt’. Normally, we cower at the sight of these giants on the road of service. We naturally prefer the path of ease by the river of ‘Go With the Flow’, and we settle for the easily reached and leave our dreams unfulfilled.

When Caleb arrived in Canaan, he and Joshua were the oldest men among the Children of Israel, the only ones remaining from the generation that left Egypt. Caleb was eighty five years old when he said, “…behold, … I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims (giants) were there, … if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. (Joshua 14:10-12). The narration of the story tells us that, “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb… because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. (Joshua 14:140. This mountain was the mountain range of Judea where king David was to reign from for 40 years, where the Temple was built, where Jesus was crucified, and where He will return (Zecheriah 14:4).

It is a hard road climb to the Temple of the Lord on top of the mountains. It is a steep road to the place of usefulness where we are part of His everlasting plan. The climb may required us to leave everything behind. Like Jacob, we may arrive crippled by the fight (Genesis 32:25) but oh, what a sight, what a glory when we arrive.

One day in the place of the Lord on the mountain of His Temple is beyond compare with every a life of ease in the valley has to offer.

Heb 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.