This well-known, moving statement was... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122:1.

This well-known, moving statement was made by David. In his day the house of God was a tent - externally apparently insignificant, yet full of profound spiritual meaning.

Christians no longer think of the house of God as a material building, but as a spiritual house composed of believers, visible through their gathering together, as the apostle Paul wrote: "If the whole church comes together in one place" (1 Corinthians 14:23). We go there primarily to worship God.

David began his psalm with joyful anticipation over God's house. This remarkable statement has almost become an idiomatic expression among Christians. How true was that anticipation at the time, and just how true is it of us today?

As a young man, David was undoubtedly brought up in the school of God. For years he had to flee far from his parental home and his fatherland, God's inheritance. It was a painful experience being unable to go up to Jerusalem with the tribes of Israel to worship his God. He still sensed the value of that holy place, having loved it in earlier times. Gathering together to the Name of the Lord Jesus should, of course, not become important solely through special circumstances. It is the Lord's joy to be in the midst of His own. Which of us would have other thoughts and feelings when there! The joy that filled David's heart will be present in us according to the measure of our love of our Lord.

Today's reading: Joshua 15:20-16:10 · 1 Corinthians 13:1-13