A Day in Thy Courts is Better than a Thousand

In Psa. 84:10, the Psalmist declared his preference for the courts of God and longing to serve even in a menial function of the kingdom:

Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Where are the courts of God, and how do we become a doorkeeper in His house? When this psalm was written, the Temple was in Jerusalem, but God does not dwell in a temple made with hands in our day. Paul declared:

[1Co 3:16 KJV] Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

For the believer, the Temple is not in a building but our very own persons. A certain minister’s little boy got up from his play and started toward his room. His father asked him what he was doing, and he answered, “I’m going to go ‘down inside’ to be with Jesus.” That is where we all need to go regularly. We need to go down inside and find God’s courts that are in the human heart and commune with Him.

The verse in Psalms also references the “tents of wickedness.” If we are to avoid them, we should know where or what they are. Paul spoke of the physical body as a tent or a tabernacle in 2 Cor. 5:1:

[2Co 5:1 KJV] 1 For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The tents of the wicked have nothing to do with our next-door neighbor. The tents of wickedness point to our sinful flesh. In Rom. 7:8 Paul spoke of the evil nature of the flesh, even of believers:

[Rom 7:18 KJV] 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.

Where are you spending time down inside yourself? Are you communing with God in your human spirit where He lives? Your human spirit is to the Holy Spirit what the Holy of Holies was to the Ark of the Covenant. That is why when Jesus died, the veil of the Temple was rent in two (Matt. 27:59). God no longer lives in a physical temple but in the temple of your own humanity. You are God’s dwelling place.

So, go down inside today and commune with Him. You don’t have to seek out some particular building (although they have their uses). The Living God has set up His home on the inside of you, and His door is always open. Extract yourself from the motions of the flesh and the contaminating influence of natural things. In Col. 1:27, Paul said, “Christ in you is the hope of glory…” God’s glory is not an outward thing; it is an inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit inside you. Receive Him and press into Him today.