S216P7 – Psalms of promise: we have the Lord forever

Psa. 100:1-5

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!  Serve the LORD with gladness!  Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!  Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

We like to imagine the present-day fantasy which one day will become our certain reality.  We read scriptures describing what heaven looks like, and we cannot wait to see it.  We read about the eventual restoration of the world, a return to the perfect natural garden.  We imagine what it will be like to be in the literal physical presence of God for all eternity.  These are wonderful visions of that for which we hope.  However, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that eternity has not yet begun.  Our endless time with the Lord already has started.  It might look different today than what it will look like then, but it has begun.  The Spirit of the Lord dwells within us, and we can be with him even today.

God’s love and faithfulness endure forever.  They are as eternal as He is, which means we have them already.  The instruction in this passage to “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise” might seem like an instruction for the future, but this also is an instruction for the present.  We have the privilege of approaching the Father because we have a way through the Son.  We we can enter his courts right now.  We are his, and we are welcome in his courts.  Our shepherd, our king and our Lord, He has made a place for us before him today.  It is our pasture, our place of rest, and the courts by which we petition for justice.  We can go into his presence right here and now.

It is a wonderful thing that we can look forward to such a glorious future, but we cannot forget that we have a promise of a glorious present.  We can spend so much time looking forward to eternity that we fail to notice we already live in it.  Come into the Lord’s presence today.  Enter his gates and his courts today.  Graze in his pastures today.  There is no reason for us not to begin living in his eternal presence now.  We have confidence through his Son that we can approach boldly, but it is for us to take that step.  Father, show us what it means to enter your presence today, that we would take advantage of this access daily.