Psalm 132 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

Subscribe to the ‘Time With God’ Podcast

Transcript

Good morning. I’m here to help you get your day started the best way possible, and that is living your day in healthy fellowship with God Himself.

Sometimes people are a little hesitant to talk about relating to God like that. To them, God is just a distant, powerful, unknowable being who we have to be a bit nervous about because one day we’ll stand before Him. But that’s it. We do our best in life and hope that in the end we’ll be OK with Him.

That is such a wrong picture of God.

Yes, God is the supreme being of this universe. Yes, He is unbelievably powerful. He is also holy and pure in a way that can make us very nervous. It’s true we will stand before him one day and give an account of our lives.

But it’s not true that he’s distant.

God is near. He came in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived his life on this earth. He knows what it is like to feel all the pressures and stresses of life, the grief, the pain, all of those things he knows. And now he’s able to get totally involved in our lives because he doesn’t just know about them by watching them. He has lived as a person in this world.

We’re looking today at Psalm 132. The Psalm says:

Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf, they’re talking about King David of Israel.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf all his affliction, how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the mighty One of Jacob, saying, Surely I will not enter my house nor lie on my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob.

David knew God was a spiritual being and didn’t live in a house, but he wanted to build a temple to honour God.

The psalmist goes on –

Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar. Let us go into His dwelling place. This psalm was used by people travelling to the great temple in Jerusalem in the days where that’s where people worshipped God.

Let us go to His dwelling place. Let us worship at His footstool. Arise, O Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness and let your godly ones sing for joy. They’re praying that God would keep that temple system pure, that the priests wouldn’t get distracted from real spirituality. And that the people also would be committed to purity and it would result in great joy.

For the sake of David, your servant, do not turn away the face of your anointed. The Lord has sworn to David a truth from which he will not turn back, saying, Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne. If your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I will teach them, then their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.

For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her needy with bread. Her priests also I will clothe with salvation, and her godly ones will sing aloud for joy. There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon himself his crown will shine.

Well, you know, the fulfilment of those prophecies of someone from David’s descendants always being on God’s throne was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, a direct descendant of King David, who now sits on the throne of heaven.

And passes out God’s blessings on all those who follow Him.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

Feature image: CanvaPro