The Old is New...

Today's Life Journal readings are Ezra 1, Psalm 84, Psalm 85, and Luke 7

Scripture: Psalm 84:1(NIV)
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.  My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

Observation:
Today's readings are some of the tamest we've had in weeks.  It's almost refreshing.  No smiting.  No blood sacrifices.  None of the stuff that has made me cringe as I read it over the last few weeks.  Even the prophet, Ezra, is speaking of building up and not tearing down, and this Psalm creates a sense of peace within me this morning.

Application:
It really is a beautiful prayer, and that's what the Psalms are, after all.  This particular one, with the ascription "of the sons of Korah," was probably meant to be sung...maybe that's why I like it so. 

I wish I could sing, but it's just not one of my gifts.  I have the joyful noise down, but when it comes to the singing part of lifting worship on Sunday morning, I turn my mic off.  It does everyone a favor. 

There is someone who sang this one, though, and did so beautifully.  Matt Redman wrote it, but Kutless recorded the version I'm most familiar with.  The opening line of the song is almost identical to the opening line of this Psalm.  "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.  My soul doth long and even faints for you...Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house, better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere."

This is just another reminder for the church to be careful not to toss the baby out with the bath water.  Even for a new traditional guy like me, there is something powerful about discovering the roots of that which we love. 

Prayer:
O God of the new and the new again, allow this day to show me that you still speak through what was, what is, and what will be.  Show me, once again, that place from whence we have all come and cast the vision of where we will be tomorrow before us.  Be in our remembering and in our dreaming, so that all we have been, all that we are, and all that we will ever be glorifies you.  Amen.