Let us go to the house of the Lord

I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go into the house of the Lord.”

Our feet have been standing

Within your gates, O Jerusalem!

Jerusalem is built

As a city that is compact together,

Where the tribes go up,

The tribes of the Lord,

To the Testimony of Israel,

To give thanks to the name of the Lord. – Psalm 122.1-4

I like the phrase ‘the house of the Lord.’ In the Old Testament it referred to the Temple or the tabernacle where God literally dwelt. When the psalmist wrote ‘let us go to the house of the Lord’ that is what he meant.

But it was more than that as well. This is the place where the people have committed to be together. It is the place where people were committed to their testimony and to give thanks to the Lord.

The building itself is not the special place – it is special because that is where God’s people meet together. It is what Paul meant when he wrote to Ephesus that Jewish and Gentile believers together make up ‘the household of God.’

There is no greater joy than being together with the household of God. The weekend is just about upon us. Sunday morning we will have a choice, will something else get in the way or we will say ‘let us go the house of the Lord and let us meet with His household, our family?’