"God's Temple"

PSALMS 132 [A Song of degrees.]

  Not to change the subject, but how amazing is God's grace, that even those who try and run from Him are somehow taken back and strengthened, becoming pillars within the church for His service. This Psalms is considered to have been written by Solomon, and he dedicated it to his father, David. I don't know how you might think his life ended; but I am willing to bet that he ended it with a prayer. As many of you should know, our bodies are considered to be a Temple for God; this is said to be so because the Holy Spirit lives within us; as we shall see, the Temple was a place where the presence of God dwelt. There is no denying the presence of God; when He is living within us, it is pretty hard to hide His presence, especially in places where we do not belong. Not only do the people around you know that there is something about you, but you know that they know, and it feels incredibly awkward, to say the least. I was wondering why the word 'degrees' is not capitalized; in every single one of these 15 Psalms, not a single one has degrees capitalized; it is treated just like the of that comes before it or after it. I could speculate that the reason has something in common with the word of, or to, or a, as if the word leads to or points to something else; but if you are trying to measure your progress on this journey, good luck with that! It is my experience with trying to gage my position or my success in living a holy life, as soon as I think I am making some progress, I get bitten by my pride. The one thing about God's Temple that sets it off from everything else, is that there is no room for pride or arrogance. Isaiah realized his sinfulness, even though he had not felt all that sinful before; but being in the presence of God was all it took, and his sin became as clear as day. The one thing about His Temple that is there for us to realize the more our sins are revealed, is that His mercy is what we need more than anything else. Matthew Henry likens each of these Psalms with singing, as in, to sing them with a special subject in mind; this one is, "to have a concern for the gospel church as the temple of God, and a dependance upon Christ as David our King, in whom the mercies of God are sure mercies." Amen...

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:5-9)