Tag Archives: Jerusalem

Jerusalem!

09 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by in Psalms, Thursday's Thought

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Jerusalem, if I forget you,
    let my right hand go limp.
Let my tongue stick
    to the roof of my mouth,
    if I don’t think about you
    above all else (Psalm 137:5-6, CEV).

Rampart Walk- Lois Walker

Greenery growing on the rampart walls of Jerusalem — photo courtesy of Lois Morrow

Reflection

This week’s I Love the Psalms theme is the tongue.

Today’s verse from the Psalms highlights the psalmist’s love for Jerusalem. While in captivity in Babylon, he longs to return to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, if I forget you, let my right hand go limp. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I don’t think about you above all else (Psalm 137:5-6, CEV).

In this verse the psalmist was expressing his deep-felt desire to return home. We all have a homeland and that desire for home never leaves us. We may grow up and move a thousand miles from home, but that desire to return home—and the imprint of that place of belonging remains with us for a lifetime.

On the spiritual level, we too have a homeland and it’s not defined by national borders. Our true homeland is within the Kingdom of God, which is both here and now, and far beyond and forever.

May I never forget that place of spiritual rebirth—that place of belonging near to the heart of God.

Response: LORD God, my real and forever home is with you. I never want to forget that truth. With my tongue I affirm my citizenship is in your eternal Kingdom. Amen.

Your Turn: Are you a citizen of the New Jerusalem? How do you define your citizenship?

The City of God

14 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Psalm 48, Psalms

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Reading:                                          Psalm 48

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

(Verses 1-8)

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.

God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.

Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever (NIV).

Reflection

I grew up on a farm in wide open rural Saskatchewan. It was a cross-country mile to the nearest neighbour, but if you stood at the right spot in our farmyard, you could see our neighbour’s house. I loved growing up on the farm and I still love visiting. Who wouldn’t? I was living in God’s country surrounded by the wild beauty of nature in all its varied, changing forms.

Easter Sunrise --David Kitz

Easter Sunrise –David Kitz

But I have spent the last forty years living in the city—actually three rather large cities with populations of more than a million. Is the God of the open country the God of the city too? The psalmist seemed to think so. He begins Psalm 48 with this declaration: Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

Of course the sons of Korah were referring to biblical Jerusalem, more specifically Mount Zion, the fortified citadel within the walls of Israel’s capital. God was within her. During the reign of David the Ark of the Covenant—the seat of the LORD’s rule—was housed in the sacred tabernacle on Mount Zion. This was where God dwelt.

Where does God dwell today? As partakers of the new covenant, through the blood of Christ we are the temples of God. Paul, the apostle, asks, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). God dwells in the city too—your city. Whether it’s Edmonton, Ottawa, New York or Tokyo, God is within her because His redeemed people live there.

Response: LORD, I thank you because you live within us! Help me to let my light shine in my city. Amen.

Your Turn: How would you characterize your city? How is God revealing His presence there?