Better Is One Day as a Doorkeeper in the House of God

Tuesdays are important corporate days of Prayer and Fasting for the Kansas City Underground. As we continue in 2023, we invite everyone to focus on a Psalm on the first Tuesday of each month. The chosen Psalm for February is one that our sisters and brothers in Jesus’ global Church around the world are focusing on at the beginning of this month across ancient and fresh traditions and denominations. We want to join them in anchoring in the Psalms because they invite us to “pray the words of Scripture, spark our imagination, and slow us down to learn the grammar of intimacy with God” (Glenn Packiam).

This week, we seek to rejoice in being part of the household of God, trusting one day in His presence is better than a thousand far from the One who loves us and welcomes us home. We also want to be the doorkeepers who welcome more of His children home. Psalm 84 teaches us how to live in gratitude of belonging to God and celebrating His generosity to us. For some who grew up in Jesus’ Church, singing Matt Redman’s “Better Is One Day” may be a sweet reintroduction to Psalm 84. For others who may be overfamiliar with the song, we have included the paraphrase from The Message to capture some of the joy of this popular Psalm again.

Focus:

Better Is One Day as a Doorkeeper in the House of God

Today’s Scriptures:

Psalm 84: 1-5, 10-12, NIV & The Message (MSG); Psalm 24:9-10, NIV

Read: Psalm 84:1-5, NIV & MSG

NIV:
How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her

young—a place near Your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

MSG:
What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel- Armies! I’ve always longed to live in a place like this, always dreamed of a room in Your house, where I could sing for joy to God! Birds find nooks and crannies in Your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God-of-the – Angel-Armies! King! God! How blessed they are to live and sing there! And how blessed all those in whom You live, whose lives become roads You travel ...

Reflect:

What is your heart crying out for today? How does God satisfy this desire in being home, at rest in Him?

Pray:

Praise God for the beauty of being at home with Him. And if you don’t see that beauty today, pray Hewould open your eyes and give you a song of praise for the journey He has placed you on right now to be with Him.

Read: Psalm 84:10-12, NIV & MSG

NIV:
Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in You.

MSG:
One day spent in Your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent (elsewhere). I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin. All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn’t scrimp with His traveling companions ...

Reflect:

Who do you get to worship God with? Serve God with? Who do you want to worship God with you?

Pray:

Thank God for those who welcome you to worship Him with others. Ask God to fill you with the joy of be- ing “a doorkeeper” and “floor scrubber” whose service welcomes more people home to Him. Pray for those that come to mind who do not know Jesus in your life. Pray that God would be the sun for them to see life by and the shield to protect them this week.

Read: Psalm 24:9-10, NIV

NIV:

Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—He is the King of glory.

Praise:

The King of glory is still coming into new areas of our hearts and homes. Welcome Him to come into your life this week to be the LORD Almighty, who does glorious work in you and in those He has sent you to love.