Ready:
“But I enter your house by the abundance of your faithful love; I bow down toward your holy temple in reverential awe of you.” – Psalm 5:7
Set: One thing we all know as athletes is that if you’re on the team, you don’t have to pay for a ticket to get in. The ticket has already been paid for. I’ve experienced this as the team chaplain for a local softball team. Most of the time I am already at the field before the ticket person arrives and sets up the table, but on the days that I am late coming in, I’ll say, “I’m the team chaplain for the softball team.” And the lady smiles and tells me to enjoy the game. My ticket has already been paid for because of relationship. Not performance but relationship.
Our verse for today doesn’t point toward David’s performance, it points toward his relationship with God. “By the abundance of your faithful love.” Love is not something strangers have between each other, it is something two have in a close-knit, intentional and personal relationship with one another. David knows the only way he is able to enter into God’s house is because of God’s great love for him. God’s love paid for David’s ticket to enter through the gate and because of that great act of love, David bows down to Him in reverence.
With my relationship with the softball team and school, I thankfully get to enter the stadium gates for free because they pay for my ticket. The ticket for them is not free; they do countless fundraisers and make sacrifices to be able to have the softball program that they have. There’s a difference between something being free and something being paid for. God the Father paid for our sins through sacrificing His precious Son, Jesus, on the cross. Jesus paid our way that we might be able to enter His house and join His eternal family.
Go:
Do you try to earn God’s love, or do you accept that you come to Him only because of His mercy and steadfast love?
How do you balance being a child of God with having a deep, respectful reverence for His holiness?
In light of this devotion, how will you bow in reverence to God today?
Workout:
Overtime:
“Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your heart and loving kindness toward sinful man. Thank You for paying it with the precious death of your Son Jesus. I pray today for conviction in the places of my heart where there is no reverence for You. I pray for a fresh understanding and appreciation of the price You paid to provide my freedom from sin. I bow down to You and praise Your Holy Name. Thank You for Your great love. Amen.”