God's House (Joe Widick)

Joe Widick today speaks of worship. Pray for me in China!

I recently read of a young three year old named Tobias, who loved to go to Bible class. Each Sunday morning as he was getting dressed to worship and class, his mother would tell him he was going to God’s house. With each passing week, he arrived even more excited than the week before. He loved the Bible stories and the singing and craft activities the teacher had prepared. He would come to class and proudly announce “I am here! Lets get started.” I wondered as I read this simple statement if Lord smiles down at this child’s excitement about being in what he thinks is God’s house.

In the long ago, one of the sons of Korah by inspiration penned the words of Psalm 84. He too had a deep love and excitement about being in the hose of God. Some commentators have speculated that for a time this writer, a temple singer, was unable to go into the temple—either because of sickness or other circumstances. Because of that his soul was especially longing and crying out to be in “the courts of the Lord” (Psalm 84:2). Later in the Psalm he said; “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” (Psalm 84:10).

Isn’t there something special about praising God together with His people? This past Sunday I worshipped with between 900-1000 Latin Americans on the campus of Baxter. It was an uplifting experience to be with that many Christians. It was comforting to set with three of our missionaries during the worship. It was refreshing to see so many young people who gathered there to worship their God. It was thrilling to hear them sing. I didn’t understand any of the words, but was moved because I was in their presences and I was in the “house of God.” We should take every opportunity we can to worship and praise God. I trust that there is a void in your life when you are not able to come and worship. I pray that our hearts grow fonder of those times of worship. I sincerely desire that each of us will have a longing to be able to express our love and adoration for the living God. The Lord is pleased and we’ll be blessed when our hearts desire is to be with Him and His people. One writer said that a good indicator of our spiritual temperature is our eagerness to worship God. I wonder how many of us have the heart of a Tobias who in his sweet innocence loves to go to God’s house, or how many of us love to spend time with the precious saint whether here at Maple Hill or wherever we might find ourselves.

Prayer Thought: Place within each of us a longing for being in Your house to worship You.