January 28, 2015
Psalm 84:10-12
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Let’s continue to mine some Gems from Psalm 84:10 through 12 in the series Doorkeeper Or Tent-dweller?:
…a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a door-
keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For
the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no
good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of
hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You.
In the last blog we looked at verse 11 and saw how God is both “…a sun and shield….” But there is more in this verse…
• Psalm 84:11 – “…the LORD will give grace….” We have pointed it out several times in past blogs, but it is so important, here it is again:
Grace – God giving us what we do not deserve.
Mercy – God not giving us what we do deserve.
What do we deserve? As we have shown in Doorkeeper Or Tent-dweller? – I, the one who is classified in God’s eyes as wicked…
…is not trusting God first to lead and control his or her life! And putting anything
else in that first place where God belongs is idolatry! Idolatry is the most egregious
form of wickedness! …if you are not putting God first in your life in all things, you
are Living in Wickedness!
It says in Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell…!” In II Peter 2:17 and Jude 1:13, the conditions of hell are elaborated upon: “…the gloom of darkness is reserved [for the wicked] forever….the blackness of darkness forever.” If total darkness forever is not bad enough, it is also written in Revelation 14:10 and 11, “…he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone….And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever: and they have no rest day or night….” If this is what the wicked deserve – and we are all wicked before God if we do not have Jesus Christ as our Savior – praise God He has mercy upon us! Thank the LORD He does not give us what we deserve!
What we do not deserve – and yet by His grace He so freely gives to anyone who comes to Him in faith believing – is salvation in His Son Jesus Christ, eternal life (escaping from hell and gaining heaven), His guiding presence forever, His Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and the abundance of the fruit of the Spirit through us – “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22 and 23 – NIV).
Praise God “…the LORD will give grace… ”!
• Psalm 84:11 – “…the LORD will give…glory….” This is an interesting statement, especially in light of what is written in Isaiah 42:8: “I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another….” So how is it that “…the LORD will give…glory…” to “…the man who trusts in [Him]…” (Psalm 84:12)?
Jesus shows us the answer in His High Priestly prayer in John 17:24: “Father, I desire that they also, whom You gave Me, may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me….” John wrote in I John 3:2, “…we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” Paul, in I Corinthians 15:49, penned, “…as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man [Jesus].” And in Roman 8:17 the apostle says, “…if…we suffer with Him…we…also [will] be glorified together.”
That is then! What about now? In II Corinthians 4:6 and 7, Paul says this:
For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excel-
lence of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The “…treasure…we have…in earthen vessels…” is the Holy Spirit dwelling in our human bodies! (see I Corinthians 6:19; II Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:14). And the Holy Spirit is just like the Lord Jesus Christ, according to John 14:16 and 17. M. R. Vincent, in Word Studies In The New Testament says this about the Greek word translated “…another…” in verse 16: “The advocate who is to be sent [the Holy Spirit] is not different from Christ, but another similar to Himself.” So since we have the Holy Spirit within us when we accept Jesus as our Savior, it can be said, “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27). “For in Him [Jesus Christ] dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9). So if the fullness of God dwells in us, this means we already share in His glory here and now!
Thanks be to God because “…the LORD will give…glory…”!
We are not even yet through with verse 11 of our scripture! Maybe we can do that in Friday’s blog!