“How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalms 84:1-2 NKJV).

DOES YOUR SOUL LONG FOR THE CHURCH GATHERED?

The psalmist expressed his deep longing and love for the Lord’s tabernacle. HIs desire for it was so deep that his soul fainted for its courts and his heart cried out for its Occupant, namely the living God. For the psalmist, the tabernacle represented the very presence of God.
 
Yet for the Christian, it is the body of Christ that is both the Church and the real presence of God by His indwelling Spirit. How much more then must our love and longing be for one another? For those who have been adopted into God’s family by faith in His Son have a deep love and longing for His Church, which is the people of God. And when they are separated from worshiping together for any length of time, their souls begin to faint and their hearts cry out for the gathered Church of the living God.
 
PRAYER: Dear Father, forgive us for those times when we could’ve been gathered together with the saints in worship and allowed some small thing to keep us away. For now in these days we are prevented from gathering, so that our souls long and our hearts cry out. Watch over us and keep us until we are able to be together in person again. In Jesus’ name, amen.