One Day in Your Courts
“For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Psalms 84:10
Redeemed ambition is one of the outward evidences of an inward spiritual change. We are born with a natural drive to prosper and succeed. Some have this drive more than others but all have it. We use the term ambition, dreams, drive and it's fundamental to how God created us. Unredeemed human ambition without exception is self-centered even in it's benign and outwardly altruistic forms. The western economic system of capitalism and the attendant pseudo-christian social order is based on a combination of cooperation and competition, or "coopetition", where we join others, or enlist others, or pay others, to help us fulfill our dreams. We are simply using others to fulfill ourselves.
This is the underlying unspoken assumption in every family, employment, educational experience, social club; everything, no matter how altruistic on the surface is subject to how it's working for us. Every member of the Elect when they come to Christ see God as a means of achieving their own goal of a happy, prosperous life. We love God but it is a mercenary love meaning we love Him as long as the Lord helps us to progress and be satisfied according to our measure of progress and satisfaction. We are in the Lord's army as long as "we", meaning me, are (is) winning and we will silently begin to pursue other worldly options when we are not. We know this by our reaction of shock and disbelief when we appear to not be "winning". One day we are on cloud nine because we feel like we are "winning", the next we wonder if God doesn't love us anymore or maybe we don't want to love God anymore because we had a bad day, meaning we feel that are not "winning".
The more mature may have a longer timeframe, maybe annual or decadal but they are likewise keenly aware of whether God is coming through for them on the pursuit of their goals. Mercenary love for God is an embarrassing reality until God makes a shift in our heart and mind. In our text, The sons of Korah capture the heart and mindset shift in a simple relative value statement "One day in your courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere]” (1:1000). The next is also a comparative to show their ambition "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God" where my job description is that of a menial servant who welcomes others to God's house. The doorkeeper owns nothing and does nothing of significance for one day but He has the privilege of presence; the doorkeeper gets to dwell with God all day. This is all the more poignant because Korah, their patriarch, was judged and destroyed by God because of his selfish ambition to take over the Aaronic priesthood instead of being content with His Levitical priestly role as a keeper of the tabernacle; the place where Israel was to meet with GodHol. These Psalmists would not be alive if their ancestors, the actual sons of Korah, had not separated from the wicked tent of their father.
These sons would rather serve others and get nothing for themselves if they gain the presence of God. The sons of Korah are making a bad choice from a mercenary point of view but exactly the right choice, the only choice, once God has changed our heart and God's presence is the most important thing to us by far. May we find great satisfaction and reward in the presence of the Lord in all that we do today.
Redeemed ambition is one of the outward evidences of an inward spiritual change. We are born with a natural drive to prosper and succeed. Some have this drive more than others but all have it. We use the term ambition, dreams, drive and it's fundamental to how God created us. Unredeemed human ambition without exception is self-centered even in it's benign and outwardly altruistic forms. The western economic system of capitalism and the attendant pseudo-christian social order is based on a combination of cooperation and competition, or "coopetition", where we join others, or enlist others, or pay others, to help us fulfill our dreams. We are simply using others to fulfill ourselves.
This is the underlying unspoken assumption in every family, employment, educational experience, social club; everything, no matter how altruistic on the surface is subject to how it's working for us. Every member of the Elect when they come to Christ see God as a means of achieving their own goal of a happy, prosperous life. We love God but it is a mercenary love meaning we love Him as long as the Lord helps us to progress and be satisfied according to our measure of progress and satisfaction. We are in the Lord's army as long as "we", meaning me, are (is) winning and we will silently begin to pursue other worldly options when we are not. We know this by our reaction of shock and disbelief when we appear to not be "winning". One day we are on cloud nine because we feel like we are "winning", the next we wonder if God doesn't love us anymore or maybe we don't want to love God anymore because we had a bad day, meaning we feel that are not "winning".
The more mature may have a longer timeframe, maybe annual or decadal but they are likewise keenly aware of whether God is coming through for them on the pursuit of their goals. Mercenary love for God is an embarrassing reality until God makes a shift in our heart and mind. In our text, The sons of Korah capture the heart and mindset shift in a simple relative value statement "One day in your courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere]” (1:1000). The next is also a comparative to show their ambition "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God" where my job description is that of a menial servant who welcomes others to God's house. The doorkeeper owns nothing and does nothing of significance for one day but He has the privilege of presence; the doorkeeper gets to dwell with God all day. This is all the more poignant because Korah, their patriarch, was judged and destroyed by God because of his selfish ambition to take over the Aaronic priesthood instead of being content with His Levitical priestly role as a keeper of the tabernacle; the place where Israel was to meet with GodHol. These Psalmists would not be alive if their ancestors, the actual sons of Korah, had not separated from the wicked tent of their father.
These sons would rather serve others and get nothing for themselves if they gain the presence of God. The sons of Korah are making a bad choice from a mercenary point of view but exactly the right choice, the only choice, once God has changed our heart and God's presence is the most important thing to us by far. May we find great satisfaction and reward in the presence of the Lord in all that we do today.