THE HOUSE OF GOD IN OUR LIFE THE HOUSE OF GOD IN OUR LIFE FARE STUDY various passages were studied.
devotional: Psalm 122 .
MEMORY TEXT: Psalm 122:1 . PURPOSE
understand how they felt Jews when they thought of the house of God in Jerusalem, and using this as an example, see how we can worship our God and glorify Him in our hearts more, inside and outside the Temple. INTRODUCTION
Every male Jew was required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate three festivals each year. They had to do all the trips were possible. The question is: What drove them to do? No was the smell of animals at slaughter. Neither could it be the joy of a long journey on foot in the dust, under the immense heat of the sun, sleeping in the countryside, eating limited, and many Sometimes, without water. In Jerusalem not looked comfortable hotels. So what motivated them to travel to Jerusalem? Jerusalem was the place chosen by God to dwell with them and to worship Him. ; So the Israelites did not feel close to him elsewhere. They loved God and wanted to be in the Temple, along with others who gathered there to worship God. That is why the Psalmist expresses this feeling in the Psalm 122. DEVELOPMENT
"I was glad when they told me to go home Lord" (Psalm 122:1). This verse states the spirit in which they went. The attitude that a person goes to the house of God determines whether to receive blessing or not. "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem" (Psalm 122:2). For the psalmist and the Jews, the Temple and Jerusalem were the same thing. They were the center of national and religious life. They did not separate these two things. Think of how we felt the day we went the first time to dedicate our new Temple. It sure felt great joy and satisfaction. Remember how many hours of work and sacrifices we did to get the building material, but those sacrifices do not take them into account. We are only interested that we are dedicating to God a house of prayer to be the center of communion together with the other brothers. Also, can you remember how you felt the first time I came to Temple after having repented of their sins and be saved? Joyfully entered the house of God, knowing that now was a member of community of brothers redeemed by Christ? In fact, we can be saved into the house of God to praise and worship Him with a grateful heart. And also we are confident that He is in charge of blessing. Psalm 73. Here are some anomalies that we see today in our days. The just and the good suffer, and, besides, are oppressed by the unjust. The rich people can be unfair or poor. It is not the amount of possessions that makes unfair to the individual, but the way it treats its neighbor. "Almost slipped my feet almost slipped my feet ... I was envious of the arrogant" (Psalm 73:2). The arrogant were immoral lives, and yet received no punishment God. In Psalm 73:4-9, the psalmist makes a list of the faults of the wicked. They spoke against God, were very proud and apparently got rid of divine punishment. In Psalm 73:10-14, the psalmist almost came to doubt the wisdom and justice of God. The people, seeing that God did not act, was considering following the wicked. Seemed useless to be fair and live a pure life. In Psalm 73:15 the psalmist recognized its responsibility to set an example. Psalm 73:16. This verse is a bridge between 1-15 and other Psalm. He is about to make a final decision. In the end, decides to visit the shrine as a last resort. Psalm 73:17. He went to the shrine to consult with God. God told him that one day there would come a punishment for the wicked, and that this punishment would last forever. Is it possible that God let him see with his own eyes the inner life of one of the wicked? probably saw insecurity, sadness and fear of the wicked that gave the appearance of serenity and satisfaction in your life. may God let him see his own life and attitude, and how he saw God, or maybe, God made him see that his way of thinking was wrong. Consider the following verse. Psalm 73:18-20. Now the psalmist is a totally new understanding. He thought that evil was in their environment, but understand that he was in himself. In the sanctuary, their point of view of God changed. In Psalm 73:21-26, he acknowledged his guilt for doubting the justice of God. Why God does not send all the bad to hell now? More likely to give time, just in case some repent and be saved. If the individual does not repent, will have no excuse, because God gave him enough time to make your decision. Psalm 73:23-27. We see a new relationship between the Psalmist and his God. Now he submits to the will of God and get his help, recognizes that his reaction was not to a child of God and now wants to change. When the psalmist began to change? began to change when he went to the shrine. There he led the Lord to speak with him. He could meditate on justice and mercy of God in man, the life of this world and the next. They knew God's plan for humanity and to himself. In the Temple knew that she should stop complaining about the unfair living around it. I had to see the wicked as God sees them. I had to understand that God was giving them enough time the unjust to have the opportunity to repent. In this sense, salvation or damnation of the wicked does not depend on God, but themselves. "But as for me, the nearness of God is good, I put in the Lord the Lord my hope, to tell all your works "(Psalm 73:28). Psalms 42 and 43. Here we talk about when King David was fleeing from his son Absalom. David had decided to leave the capital so that there was a bloody war. He believed that if God considered just cause, he is responsible for returning it to the throne. At first I was depressed and frustrated about being away from home, but more than Yet he felt sadness for not being able to congregate with others in the temple in praise and worship to God. Look at how he says. Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for streams of water". A servant is a swift animal, like deer, swift of foot. The strongest enemy is man, who always walks around with their dogs. It seems that they have been pursuing for a long time and very thirsty animal is under the scorching heat. He also knows he has to cover his tracks and the scent of their trail. Only in the river could do this. He wants to find enough water to dive into it, perhaps leaving only their noses above water to avoid drowning, while the dogs were discouraged to follow. Here the Psalmist compares with the servant. He has a great thirst for God and the house of God. He wants to worship their God in the midst of the congregation. But it can not reach the Temple that his son Absalom Queen in Jerusalem. The water indicates his desire intimate relationship with God. The question we have in verse 2 refers to is far from Jerusalem and the Temple. The private felt the joy and privilege to participate in worship to God. Where for any reason you can not attend the Temple, how do you feel? What do you do if you are sick and have to stay home? is a good time to pray for each one that is there, meditating on the Word of God, singing, and everything. You can take part in this service! Use that time of communion with their Lord, review the verses you know by heart, read the Bible if you can! God is with you there in his bed! Psalm 42:3, "Where is your God?" The worst part were the taunts of those who were around the psalmist. They knew he was sad to not be with the others in the Temple. They knew that he prayed to God and could not go to town. His enemies wanted to instill doubt about the love of his God. Our enemy is to cause distress, problems and difficulties and aims to accuse us of love instil doubts of God. How do we respond? The psalmist would not eat or sleep. The most common among us is the fact that the deer, distressed by thirst that he feels, is searching for drinking water. When we arrived at the temple of God with great thirst and a deep desire to hear the Word of God and nourish our soul, God will talk. He is going to eat his presence. Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 tells us to come quietly, leaving our jobs out, with our concerns, and we get hungry for God, to hear and obey . How sad when one who has known God walks away, does not reach the educated, and barely aware of his condition! But how good is when that person takes note of his condition, feeling thirsty , and returns. Psalm 42 has another reason, and the tribulation and sorrow that the Jews will experience when unable to attend the Temple. To see them mourn, his enemies will mock them, doing the same question where is your God? Psalm 42:4, "I remember how I went with the crowd." Melted his soul is in pain. It was like a burden to think when he had gone to worship together with all its God. Psalm 42:5, "Why are you downcast, O my soul?" Here the Psalmist speaks to his own soul, mind. Even in the presence, perhaps, of his enemies, he shows faith and trust in God and would save him out of adversity and the circumstances in which he was. The same is chides saying it was in vain that feeling of sadness. Does their God was not going to fight and bring back to where he longed to be? We see that in verses 6 and 10 returns to feel sad. , Is not it what we feel sometimes? After having a win and be extremely happy, something happens and we are again as we were before: sad. This happens when we forget the Lord and we doubt that he is with us. Then David begins to remember God and His greatness, which the Lord bless you and talk, even at night. Remember all this, and also that his enemies are there near, he encourages his soul again with the same words. Psalm 43:1. It starts a bit discouraged. Brethren, not so with us sometimes? When we shot we have time to lift our eyes and pray with faith, and then we somewhat discouraged again. That's what happened to the psalmist. He knew his only hope was in God and never find rest elsewhere, but in God. Psalm 43:2, "Why have you rejected me? Why go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" This man is either discouraged. But it seems that asking these questions, he realized his attitude and his need, and took good measures. Psalm 42:3 "Send your light and your truth, let them lead me." These are wise words. "Lead me to your holy mountain, and your dwelling place." First, the psalmist said all his troubles. The Lord wants our sincerity. Would you like to say how we feel. With this, we also realize the depth of our feelings, and then comes mental and emotional health. If the Lord does not express what we think, be hard to change attitudes. Second, the Psalmist asks light and truth that are characteristic of God. The light shows things as they are. Also, the truth makes us understand why or how we need it. Son these things that will guide the psalmist directly to the shrine, the Temple, the house of God. In the Old Testament, God dwelt in the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. This is where the true light and wear it. And only the temple, but directly to the altar of God. When standing before the altar of God, his thoughts focused on the God who dwelt there. His heart stood there, was filled with excitement, joy and joy that he promised to praise Him with harp. We today would say with a guitar or our voice. This makes us remember the disappointment felt by Jews during the exile in Babylon (Psalm 137:1-4). For sadness, they hung their harps on the willow, while their neighbors asked them to sing songs to the Lord. They were far from Jerusalem, and the city was in ruins. How could sing? "They had no joy. The psalmist meditates on God, and recalls the despair of his soul. Psalm 43:5, "Why are you downcast, O my soul." It seems that the psalmist says, "Look, my soul has been sad and troubled by choice. Look, here we are in the Temple. I told you we would be rescued, waiting on God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. "There are times when emotions are very strong and do not allow mind or will work. These three elements of our being must work together, neither one nor the other must dominate others. So we will be mature and useful to the service of our King Jesus Christ. There is another thing. The Old Testament holy man thought it had to be in the temple to talk to God. He had no knowledge that our God walks with us always, we can talk to Him at any time. I know personally. With so much light, how come we do not walk from victory to victory? "We períodos de desánimo? Parece que es porque no hacemos lo que hizo el salmista en el Salmo 43:3-4, y en 73:17. El tiempo que pasamos en meditación y reflexión en el Templo, pensando en nuestro Creador y Salvador, en sus planes para nosotros y nuestro servicio, en nuestra condición delante de Él, no es un tiempo sin valor. Necesitamos un tiempo sin ruido (Salmo 46:10 nos dice: "Estad quietos y conoced que yo soy Dios".
CONCLUSIÓN: Preparemos nuestro corazón antes de ir al Templo. Tengamos como meta encontrarnos con Dios allí. No vayamos al templo sólo para ver a nuestros hermanos, lo cual es también important. First, our greatest desire should be to have a special time with God, time to praise and worship in spirit and in truth. Let us propose to learn something we can apply in our lives to make it conform more to the model of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we reached the temple with a desire to meet God, He will speak. Perhaps we will speak through the words of a hymn, the testimony of a brother, or through the prayer of another. speak directly to our hearts in communion still before him, or his word explained. Our life be changed because that is what God wants.
