Enter the Holy Mountain of Worship

Scripture:

Psa. 48:1     Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
        in the city of our God.
    His holy mountain,
Psa. 48:2 beautiful in elevation,
        is the joy of all the earth,
    Mount Zion, in the far north,
        the city of the great King.
Psa. 48:3     Within its citadels God
        has shown himself a sure defense.

Observation:

Praise and worship of God are the theme of this Psalm.  There on the holy mountain, his sanctuary, we find a place of worship.  There in Jerusalem the temple has been built and in this place the people can come and worship God.  When the foreign kings come to visit the city they are overcome with what they see and experience.  In fear and reverence they return home and God remains the protector of his people, as long as they continued to praise and to worship him.

Application:

The holy mountain which we will enter today is our place of worship -- the church.  We, too, must remember that praise and worship of God are to be the theme of all that we do when we enter into his holy place.  Too often we become concerned about whether we are going to enjoy the worship experience or not and we must remember that this isn't about what you or I like -- it's about focusing on God and our worship of him. 

When we truly praise and worship God in our churches we will experience his presence among us.  Within our walls, our citadels, God will show himself to be our sure defense.  But this is only if we are truly sincere in our worship of him.  God was the defense of the Israelites as long as they turned toward him an worshiped him.  When they stopped, decay began to come in and destroy.  Little by little their cities and their nation were destroyed.  Eventually the very temple of God was destroyed and the people carried off into exile. 

If we are not sincere in our worship of God the same will happen to us.  We will go to church and we may go through the motions, but God won't be there.  Little by little the decay will come in and destroy.  People will argue with one another over trivial matters because God won't be there.  Little by little people will leave and a small and tiny remnant will remain.  Eventually the doors will have to close and the church will be gone, carried off into exile. 

We must heed the warning from the Psalmist and keep our focus of worship on God.  If we do so, he will come and fill the temple -- his presence will be with us in worship -- and he will continue to be our defense.  This was his promise to the Israelites and it is his promise to us today. 

Let's go into the house of the Lord on this day of worship -- and give him all the focus, the praise and the attention!  "Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised!"

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the privilege of worshiping you today.  Amen.