November 14

Psalm 134 We would walk through the hallways in the dark feeling our way to the sanctuary. All the fears of the dark would come to my mind. During my high school years, we fairly regularly made the trip to pray together. My college-aged brother was somehow able to gain a key to the church building, but it was to the educational building, not the sanctuary. Hence, the long trip through the darkened hallways. The mental practice of walking through the dark hallways was somehow a good preparation of time of prayer in the sanctuary. The sanctuary had an all wood roof and ceiling construction, so the cooling off of the wood at night time brought on a lot of creaking and cracking noises that increased the hallowed atmosphere of the building. We left the lights off for several reasons: 1) We did not want our presence to be an added expense to the church. 2) We really did not want to be interrupted by members of the church who were driving by wondering why the lights were still on. 3) We just liked the atmosphere of praying in the dark. On occasion the presence of the Lord was such that it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Currently, we don’t have a night guard at our church building. Of course, we lock our building up at night. There isn’t any interest in people coming to the building after midnight. The Law made provision for the Levites to stand guard at the tabernacle/temple 24 hours per day. One might suppose that the reason would be to provide protection against vandalism or theft. However, with the presence of the glory of God dwelling in the holy of holies, I am not sure that would have been necessary. It was definitely to ensure that no outsider entered the courts of the Lord. It might have been to provide protection for people who might ignorantly wander into the sanctuary and be struck dead by a holy God who does not allow the unholy in His presence. The law also gives an answer. The Levites were to ensure that the fire of worship never went out. The Levites cared for the ‘things’ of worship. Our Lord is worthy of 24/7 worship. See 1 Chronicles 23:25–32 for David’s job description for the Levites. Interesting, other places in scripture indicate that the Lord is worshipped non-stop in heaven. Consider:

Revelation 4:8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 7:15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. Revelation 21:24–26 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

What would these who stand all night in the house of the Lord do? For starters, they made sure everything was ready for the early morning sacrifice. Second, they sang praise to our God. Third, they made known that the Lord was the maker of heaven and earth. Fourth, they lifted up holy hands in prayer. Wouldn’t it be awesome if every congregation had 24/7 praise ascending to our Lord? I know that with a congregation the size of mine, it would be a physical impossibility. There are not enough people to sustain it. However, in a small city of 50,000, (about the population of Jerusalem when this Psalm was written) we have enough professing Christians to sustain it. No one congregation could do it, but together we could. What a demonstration of unity behind our Great and Glorious King that would be. Hmmmm. . . There is at least one thing we could all agree on—the greatness of His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john