One Day In His Courts

Lent starts February 14, and so does the RESCUED Blessed is She Lent devotional. This year, you’ll be receiving an excerpt from the Lent devotional every day in your inbox (in lieu of our regular daily devo). We want to pray with one heart and one mind as the BIS sisterhood. If you prefer to have the book, purchase the 2024 Blessed is She Lent devotional RESCUED right here. Right upon purchase, you’ll receive a link to come into the free Blessed is She app to walk through the Lenten season with us in daily live prayer, small groups, and more. Together let’s look to the Lamb of God who came to rescue each one of us.

 

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God! // Psalm 84:2

I didn’t much like praise and worship music when I was in high school—I thought it was cheesy. And, to be fair, some of it was in the early 2000s. “Yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, Yes, Yes, Lord” with hand gestures did not help me have an open heart to Jesus.

But then one night, at a parish holy hour, there was a song that was one part catchy and two parts profound.

“Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house, better is one day in your courts, than thousands elsewhere . . . ” 

Over and over, we sang about the desire to be in the court of God, and as I knelt in the church, my knees stuck to the faux leather kneeler, I realized what I was saying. 

God’s court, His lovely dwelling place, is where I belong. God’s presence, right before me in the Blessed Sacrament, was where my soul found rest. Even the threshold of God’s house was better than any luxurious offering of this world.

I was convicted in that moment, at seventeen, to make time in His house a priority.

His presence is not limited by church buildings. For truly, when we are in our own homes, sometimes messy and cluttered and noisy, we can remember the Lord’s presence and dwell with Him. Whether we are traveling, sitting at a desk, waiting in the school pickup line, cooking a dinner no one will say “thank you” for, or folding laundry for the tenth time this week, we can think of God’s altars, where our hearts and flesh cry out for the living God. 

His dwelling place is lovely, and for what we long. His dwelling place is worthy of building in our hearts, a place where the living and true God can rest in our yearning souls. Do you long for his courts, just one day with the Lord, more than the thousands elsewhere? How can you build his court, dwell in His kingdom, today?