When? - Psalm 63 v 3

Psalm 63:3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. (NIV)

This morning, I received a lovely card from someone in the congregation. On the front, it had a picture of a beautifully lit church standing beside a gently flowing stream. Inside was a check donated to Erin church along with one simple question “When?”

I have asked myself that question hundreds of times lately, so I know what this church member was lovingly expressing. We all miss coming to the church sanctuary to be in God’s presence with His people. We all miss saying prayers and singing together. Sunday mornings are just not the same without being at church.

Now, I know some people say that the church is not a building and they are perfectly right, however, church buildings become sanctuaries and safe places to us where we can humbly enter and feel God’s peaceful presence that we sometimes cannot get in our homes, schools, or workplaces. We attach ourselves to a sacred building in much the same way as our pre-historic ancestors felt connected to their caves – it is a place of safety and acceptance, peacefulness and love.

I wish I could answer that simple question of “When?” with the word “Now,” but in our present circumstances, it has to be “Not yet.” I would love to open the doors today and have the good folks of the church streaming past me to get to the sanctuary that we all dearly love, but as a shepherd, I’m called to look after the sheep under my care, even when some of the flock want something else.

There will come a time, when we shall gather to declare our love for God and one another. There will come a moment when we will praise God together and even sing those ancient psalmist’s great words of faith: “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

Please pray with me:

Lord Jesus, we all long to be in God’s House to praise Your Name as one family of faith. During these troubled times, grant us the patience to persevere and the wisdom to follow Your will. In Your Holy Name, we pray, and for Your Holy people, we ask. Amen.

Thanks for watching the devotion. May God bless you and all whom you love. BFN.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. You can watch our online service from our website at www.erinpres.org.