It gives my wife and me great joy when the grandkids get excited about coming to our house, when they ask to come and don’t want to leave after getting here. It must do the same for the heart of God when His children want to be in His house, or place of worship, and when they stay excited about being there.

When David writes unto the Lord in Palm 26:8, with a joyful heart, he says, “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth.” There were ample reasons for David, or any sincere child of God at this time, to be excited about being in the house of God. As we learn from the verse above, he met the Lord there. While the Lord is omnipresent, this was a special place of dedication and identification with the Lord. When David went to the temple, he met his God there. He was excited because it was a time to pray and worship in earnest. Psalm 27:4 puts it this way, “…I desired of the Lord…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord…to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” Attendance in a place of true worship was always intended by the Lord to be a time of divine instruction and strengthening. Micah 4:2 describes the future Millennial Kingdom when he writes, “And many nations shall come… to the house of the God of Jacob…and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” Being in the house of God was also a time and place to sing the praises of the Lord with heartfelt joy. David knew this and said, “…therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord” (Psalm 27:6). We realize the above passages refer to the people of Israel, the program of the law, and a divinely designed temple. Nonetheless, the principles are the same for us even today.

David considered a day in God’s courts “better than a thousand” he would spend anywhere else (Psalm 84:10). We should feel the same way too. With David, let’s say, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122:1). Let’s choose to be excited about our place of worship and be extremely faithful in attending.