March 15, 2022 – Tuesday
Psalm 43:3-4 NKJVV
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.
Comment.
This is from our Monday evening Bible study where six of us spent an hour on Psalm 43 (NKJV) which is only five verses long. The prior Monday we had gone through Psalm 42, all of eleven verses and eight of us spent over an hour on it. Interesting is that verse five in Psalm 42, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance is almost identical to verse five in Psalm 43, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
But that is not our focus here. Instead, we are going to talk about the stair steps from verse three to verse four. If you are looking but see no stair steps don’t feel bad as most of us did not either. That is until Pastor Luke Stephens explained the stair steps he saw in the two verses. Let’s begin with Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Here he pointed out Jesus is the light and the Holy Spirit is the truth. And what do Jesus and the Holy Spirit do? They lead the writer, Let them lead me. Where to they lead him, where does he want to be led? Let them bring me to Your holy hill and that is God’s holy hill. And from there to Your tabernacle, to God’s temple. Once he is at the temple or tabernacle, he no longer needs to be led, for now there, Then I will go to the altar of God. He is going to God’s alter where he will be before God the Father.
Once there at the altar of God, he experiences exceeding joy or as the Psalmist says, To God my exceeding joy. Because of his joy, he is led to on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God. Just being in the presence of God at His altar, he feels the overwhelming need to praise Him with his harp. This leads me to wonder what our (my) initial reaction will be in heaven coming into the presence of the Son or the Father. I can only imagine an incredible thankfulness for being there along with a joy that grows greater and greater with each passing moment. Try to imagine it, I cannot, I can only wonder, especially knowing how unworthy I truly am. The amazement of where we are would have to be coupled with an incredible joy. Knowing this, the Psalmist’s words really speak to me.
Personally, there are times I can hardly wait, but then every so often He lets me feel His presence and the days grow easier and easier to deal with as I wait to be called home. I will not rush it as He has work for me (and for you) to do here, sharing all He is offering through His Son on the cross. I will wait and do what He desired me to do.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for this Psalm which speaks so clearly of the joy we will all have when we are finally in Your presence. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor
Calvary Chapel of Dayton
in Beavercreek