Is there somewhere you long to be more than any place else in this world? Think about it. Maybe it’s a favorite vacation spot, a cabin on the lake, a concert by your favorite entertainer, or just an easy chair in your living room surrounded by family. Most of us have that ideal place that stirs within us a wonderful mix of feelings — joy, excitement, peace and contentment.
For the Psalmist, that ideal spot was the tabernacle of God. He longed for it with every fiber of his being. “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). He’s a bit obsessed, isn’t he? But what a magnificent obsession! In verse ten he sounds like a kid talking about getting to go to Disney World when he says, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.”
Heaven is God’s eternal tabernacle. Just one everlasting day in God’s presence will be better than any day you’ve ever spent on earth, even if you could live a thousand lifetimes. As the apostle John is about to be shown heaven’s splendor in the book of Revelation, he writes. “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God’ ” (Revelation 21:3).
For those who love God and long to be with Him, there could be no better place than God’s eternal tabernacle. May it be our life-long obsession.
– Steve Klein