Through repentance and faith, the people of God now abide with Jesus Christ, the very embodiment of the presence of God, since all the fullness of the deity dwelled in him in bodily form.
There is a holy solemnity that needs to be recaptured as we prepare to enter God’s presence with his people.
The world stands (and has always stood) opposed to God’s ways. Thus, to walk in God’s ways means that we will be at odds with the world.
Whether it is our covenant-keeping with God, or our covenant-keeping in family relationships, the blessing of God rests upon those who fear him and walk in his ways.
It is possible to build in vain even if we live in a grand house. When these things become the focus of our lives, there is a vanity, or emptiness, that seeps into our lives.
The psalmist looked up at the majestic mountains as a picture of God’s surrounding presence, and longed for that peace. In Christ, that eternal peace has broken in.
We need to tell the story often, we need to rehearse it for each other, and we need to sing it with the psalmist—the Lord is on our side!
In time, God will heal the sick and raise the dead. But, in the meantime, we learn the gift of waiting.
God’s presence is mediated among us when we gather with other believers as the church.
The Spirit-filled life does not mean that we have eradicated all sin from our lives. What it does mean is that we no longer have a divided heart.
To conquer the divided heart is one of the greatest victories in the Bible.
In our own lives, may we learn to embrace lament, not despair, because lament is the song of hope.
