We are blessed

DEVOTION

PSALMS

WE ARE BLESSED

Ps 84

84:1 For the director of music. According to gittith.  Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O 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, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah 

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, 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, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah

9 Look upon 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 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

NIV

We could spent days on each one of the stanzas of this song. What a powerful song of praise to our God. His dwelling place is lovely. To just consider for a moment, like the rest of our life on this planet, how great, how magnificent it is going to be standing in new creation, the new city of God he will bring down out of heaven to earth and where we will spend all of eternity in his presence, even walking and talking with Jesus. Our soul yearns, even faints for his courts, his temple, and his holy presence. True, it seems we get a little carried away with this life, wanting to accomplish something, even for his kingdom. We have all these things we want to do, or have before we die. The older we get the closer death closes in on us and we might get a little tense about not having done all we wanted. We might even think the best part of our life, our younger years, when we were full of energy and had far fewer aches and pains is over and now we see nothing but an aging face in the mirror. But the best ever part of our life is getting closer, the part when we step into eternity into the court of our God. We have found a home, just as the sparrow and the swallow. We have found a nest for ourselves and it is in the everlasting arms of our Lord. But we are not so much like a sparrow or swallow as we are far more like an eagle. As Isaiah put it,

Isa 40:31

31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

NIV

Ah yes, this body may be older then what it once was, but we are still soaring on wings like eagles, for our hope is in the Lord. We are renewed daily as we feast on his words, as we fill our hearts with joy, hope and love, as a result of our faith, our desire to see his royal court. He is our strength, we will not grow weary, nor rest from our work. We will not sit back and just wait for death, we will continue to run the race, staying on the course set before us, we are yet far from the finish line. We will not stop by any tent of the wicked, but run past them, not wanting their favor, but the favor of our Lord. We will run the race, as long as there is day, and our Lord is the sun and our shield. He shines his blessings upon us and shields us from any attack from the tents of the wicked. He bestows honor and favor upon us, he lifts us up and gives us those wings of eagles to soar upon. The eagles nest is high upon the mountains and we will one day nest on the mountain of God, but until then we are soaring, we are flying high, being honored by God. Because we are in Christ we are blameless, God declared it so. Therefor he withholds no good thing from us. But we need to be looking for those good things that he does not withhold. If we are distracted by the things we think are good, we might miss what he thinks is good. Our eyes have not grown dim and so we can see all the good things he has not withheld from us, we are blessed beyond measure. He has opened the floodgates of heaven and poured out so much we do not have room enough to contain.

Mal 3:10-12

10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

NIV

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. We trust him, therefor we are blessed.