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For you,
Lord,
have delivered me
from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,  that I may walk
before the Lord
in the land of the living.
Psalm 116:7-9 NIV
The last part of these verses gives us a "purpose statement" a "so that".
Why does He pull me back from death, wipe my tears and hold me up?
So that I can walk with God. Echoes of Genesis and walking in the garden.
But doesn't God just dwell in the tabernacle in the Holy of Holies?
The psalmist knows the relationship with God is way closer than that, centuries before Jesus.
Walking before God is literally about his face.
Living before the face of God (when no one could)
And not out in the future sometime (heaven) but now, in the land of the living.
Living before the face of God.
Coram Deo.
His strong hand pulls us back from death
His gentle touch wipes our tears
He is the shoulder we can lean on
So that we can live before, stand facing the living God, and live our lives before Him.
This points us in one direction...to Jesus.
He pulled be back
Wipes my tears
Holds me up
And his love (sacrifice) allows me to stand and see God's face...
#psalms
#psalm116
#Jesusatthecentre

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