a lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah(Psalm 23)

Psalm 23 is a psalm on God’s economy, and God’s economy has as its goal the church, the house of God! The last verse in Psalm 23 therefore says, Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days.

This shows us that in the fifth stage of experiencing the pneumatic Christ’s organic shepherding we have a lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah!

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me…

SURELY – this is an assured fact, nothing can contradict this, and it is forever secured before God! Goodness – the grace of Christ; lovingkindness – the love of the Father; will follow me… – the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In this one verse we see the entire Triune God as described in Paul’s blessing in 2 Cor. 13:14 – the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit – are with us! The Triune God is reaching us and moving towards us and in us for us to enjoy all His riches!

… will follow me all the days of my life

Have you ever thought about what “will follow me all the days of my life” means? This means that as long as we the believers in the Lord live, the entire Triune God follows us wherever we go and wherever we are so that He may impart all His riches into us! We go to work – He is following us with lovingkindness and goodness; we go to school or we are at home – the Triune God as love, grace, and fellowship is following us to be everything to us for our enjoyment!

The disciples went down to Emmaus – the Lord walked with them (Luke 24); some of them went fishing – the Lord Jesus was there with them and made breakfast for them (John 21). Sometimes the disciples were put in prison – but the Lord was there with them (Acts 5) – sometimes He released them while all the time He was their continual enjoyment (Acts 16:25). Paul was on the ship towards Rome, chained as a prisoner to be judged, but the Lord was with him (Acts. 27). Paul was in prison, but he enjoyed the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19).

The Lord is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), and His name is Emmanuel – God with us (Matt. 1:23). The Spirit of reality is not just with us but in us – to subjectively teach us and anoint us about all things (John 14:17). We have an anointing that teaches us all things (1 John 2:27). And above all, the entire Triune God works together to be the love-grace-fellowship to us for our enjoyment and experience (2 Cor. 13:14) and to make His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:15-19).

I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days

The enjoyment of the Triune God ushers us into the house of God – we enjoy God in His house, where we dwell. We dwell in the house of God, which is the church today (1 Tim. 3:15-16) and the New Jerusalem for eternity (Rev. 21:2-3)! For the length of our days, as long as we shall live, we will dwell in the house of God. God’s house is our dwelling place, our home, where we enjoy the Triune God – the Son’s grace, the Father’s love, and the Spirit’s fellowship – with all the saints!

Today we enjoy God in His house, the church – but if we are not in the church, we lose the rich shepherding of Christ! He is the Shepherd of the flock – therefore, we need to remain in His flock, in His house, the church. Christ as the Shepherd is with His sheep, and if we remain in the church life, we enjoy His rich and abundant shepherding.

Beholding the beauty of Jehovah in the house of God

This is what David desired and yearned for – to dwell in the house of Jehovah to behold His beauty (Psa. 27:4-6)… The Lord’s loveliness, His pleasantness, and His delightfulness can be seen in the church, the house of God. We behold His glorious face and we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Both personally and corporately with the saints, we need to spend time to behold the Lord in His beauty, to be infused with Him, and to be filled with all that He is…

Don’t rush your time with the Lord, and do not hurry up to end your time with the saints in the church life! Breathe the Lord in, behold His face, and be infused with Him by spending time with Him both personally and with the saints in the church meetings. This is how we enjoy His lovingkindness and His goodness which are following us all the days of our life! Here, in His presence in the church, we can enquire of Him and ask Him everything we want to know from Him… [sharing inspired from the life-study of the Psalms, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (1). Intro: Goodness and Mercy]

This is what we desire of You, Lord, that we may dwell in Your house for the length of our days! We want to stay here and enjoy Your goodness and Your lovingkindness! We thank You for following us as the moving and reaching-out Triune God to be everything to us. Keep us enjoying You, dear Lord Jesus. Keep us beholding You in our time with You. Save us from rushing our time with You – we want to behold Your beauty in Your house and enquire of You in Your temple!