Psalm 132:1-10 - A Commitment to Worship

Psalm 132:1-10
¹ Remember, O Lord, on David’s behalf, all his affliction;
² How he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
³ “Surely I will not enter my house, nor lie on my bed;
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ Until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the field of Jaar.
⁷ Let us go into His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool.
⁸ Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, you and the ark of Your strength.
⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your godly ones sing for joy.

¹⁰ For the sake of David Your servant, do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

Message:  A Commitment to Worship

Time: Based upon authorship and subject matter, Psalms cover a range of centuries. David is mentioned 73 times, Solomon 2, Moses 1, and 50 designate no specific person. It is believed they were compiled around 537 BC. The psalms deal with such subjects as God and His creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin and evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah.

What the Lord is Saying: A man after God's heart is someone that loves God, trusts His commands, and is willing to be obedient to His Word. He recognizes his sin. And when he sins, he recognizes that God forgives sin and that he is to turn from that sin and desire to please God in all that he does. David was not perfect and this is true. But still he believed God.

I am seeing that God sustains my life and permeates all of it. He rescues me and he sets me on the course that is most pleasing to me and him and so I worship him. I do notice that my worship of God is not consistent. Or I wonder if it is part of my life and just not in the way I normally identify worship.  

I spent much of my time in prayer, asking. Praising God for who he is and what he has already done is often absent from my lips. I need to praise God and also in scripture I see the importance of places of worship. The temple is mentioned repeatedly in the Old Testament. It is important in our life that I continue to worship God and we gather at a place of worship, a place that is separate from where I reside and live. This is who I am in Christ, separated from the world. 

Psalm 132 overview
The first 10 verses deal with David's praise to God to build Him a house in Jerusalem. It is most likely a Psalm from the lips of Hezekiah. 

Lord remember David, and all his afflictions. Lord, David is anxious. He desires to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. All of his works were dedicated to this. 

How he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob. At Bethel, Jacob was running away from home. But, as he ran, he suddenly realized that this God who had been the God of Isaac his father and Abraham his grandfather, could also be His God. Thus, he makes a vow to God, a solemn vow and here Hezekiah agrees with this vow. David made it. Jacob made it. And I can make it as well. 

Surely I will not enter my house, nor lie on my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids. Am I tireless in my purpose in securing this place of worship? Do I take spiritual things in my life seriously? God desires that from his people. I am not sure I have a real self-abandoned approach to worship and entering the house of the Lord. Once again, the ease with which anything happens, including attending church in which churches are numerous, makes one think that attending church is not that difficult. But, difficulty is not the issue here, but rather passion and desire. 

Until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob. It would take David years to find this place. But, he never gave up. He found it, a mighty rock on Mount Moriah.

Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the field of Jaar.  The news of David vow to the Lord was heard throughout the kingdom. Let us go into His dwelling place; let us worship at His footstool. Ephrathah was where David's kinfolk or family members reside. And here is their desire to go also to this dwelling place, to agree with David. Family can be the most difficult to win over, but David's family now embraced his vow to the Lord. 

Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, you and the ark of Your strength. These same words were used by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6:41 when dedicating the temple he had built. And here similar words are ascribed to the Lord because the temple had been cleansed; and the work of purifying and rededicating the temple was finished. 

Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your godly ones sing for joy. Here he asks God to now clothe his priests with righteousness. He urged them to be right with God, but it was God's work to make them righteous. 

For the sake of David Your servant, do not turn away the face of Your anointed. Hezekiah pleads before the Lord not his own life and name, but the name of one greater than himself -- David. It was the greatest name he knew. For his sake, he asks God to keep his face toward His anointed ones. He knows that he must come to the Lord not on his own merit. And we also plead the name of Jesus, a greater name than David, to rescue us from ourselves. 

Promise: Worship is a time to rest and relax in the presence of the Lord. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to be more concerned about coming to the temple of you Lord. Lord, you are true and I want to consecrate myself to you. Help me to get excited about worshiping you. Help me to focus and concentrate myself on worshiping you and going to the house of worship. Lord, you can rest, for myself and the people of God are before you, worshiping you, giving you praise, setting aside all that they are to come before you.