Psalm 84:10 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.
The title is Contentment in God's House, but exactly what is meant by God's House is unclear. As I reflected on this idea, the House of God, a couple of passages in Scripture came to mind:
• John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
• Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
From these Scripture portions I understand the House of God this way: it is not a physical structure of brick and mortar or wood and steel, no matter how many times I was told this as a child. Perhaps you as well can remember being told not to run in church or not to yell or not to do any number of things kids are wont to do in church, since it was the House of God....heard in nearly all capital letters with great gravity on the part of the speaker.
However, I am grateful that no church building can contain God, that He chooses instead to dwell in people, in ordinary people like you and me. John was the first book of Scripture that I ever studied, and it remains my favorite - partly because it was written by the disciple Christ loved and partly because it is filled with such beauty and hope and teaching.
So I love the words of John as he quotes Christ's words in chapter 14. Here, Jesus is saying that not only is He in the Father, but that we are in Him and He is in us. Imagine that, we are His dwelling place. In Romans, Paul says that the Spirit dwells in us. We are God's House, His Dwelling Place. Now back to the title of this entry - Contentment in God's House. Am I currently experiencing contentment, with what God is doing in my life, how He is using me, or do I live in the future or the past, longing for a different place to be?
Are we relishing the reality that not only can we serve God, choosing to follow where He leads and savor the company of other believers, but are we happy courts? And if not, then what do we have to do to clean up God's house, to make His courts a place of joy, peace and contentment?
When I covet anything, when I whine about my health or weight or age lines around my eyes, I am whining about the house of God. I am showing my lack of contentment in God's handiwork, and I just don't think that makes God all that happy.
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