Words by our Priest-in-Charge:
The Best Place in Life
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.Psalm 84:10
If someone asks you, “What is the best place in life you would like to be?”, what would your most likely answer be. In the world and the culture we live in today, we often measure the best place in life in quantitative term. We define the best place in life as having what would bring security, safety and comfort. Since young, many of us could be told that the best place in life is having a successful career, owning comfortable home, driving good car and earn enough to retire. If we believe that is the best place in life, we would pursue it. If Christians believe that is the best place in life, we would ask God for it.
The Psalmist in Psalm 84 seems to have quite a different perspective. He suggests that the best place in life is to be in the presence of God, in the place of worshipping the Almighty God. I believe that the best place in life is where God has placed us, because that is where His presence going to be. The best place in life is not primarily measured or defined quantitatively. It is not “having things” that will guarantee us security, comfort or safety. It is the very presence of our Father God that will bring us ultimate fulfillment. When we are where God wants us to be, when we move in obedience to God to that place, we will find God’s abundant blessings there. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold, from those who walk uprightly.(Psalm 84:11) .Likewise, with choosing our career or vocation or ministry. Are you contented at where you are in life now? Are you happy with your job? Are you satisfied with the place of life you are at now? Our sense of happiness or contentment may not be the best test of the right place in life. The question perhaps, we should be asking is, “Is this where God wants me to be?”
Being at the right place where God wants us to be may not necessarily be the most comfortable of state. Just as the Psalmist put it, sometimes the best place in life is to be “a doorkeeper”, but in the “House of the Lord” – in that place where God’s promised presence could be found for certain. I certainly sometimes find myself in where God wants me to be, but in a rather uncomfortable place. It is in that place that requires me to trust my Heavenly Father that He knows, and wants me to have the best in life, for “No good thing will He withhold”.
Put your trust in God to bring you to the best place in life, for the Father knows best!