How can we enter into God’s presence?

Until recently, I never really understood why it mattered that I cultivated an attitude of gratitude. But then I started meditating on a beautiful verse of Scripture, which made me grasp the importance of thankfulness in an entirely new way.

It happened during a time of praise and worship, earlier this month, when I realised there were people in the room, who were struggling to engage with the presence of God, which was tangibly and powerfully present in the midst of us. And as I became aware of it, the words and tune of an old chorus came to mind:

“I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart;
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.“

(My apologies if this has now given you an earworm!)

Suddenly, it started to make sense. Suddenly, I saw how this verse reveals the key for unlocking and entering into God’s presence – and how it hinges on having thanksgiving in our hearts …

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The lyrics for this song are lifted straight from Psalm 100:4: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Psalm 100 is a song of thanksgiving, written during the time of King David, when God’s people would process through the gates of the city of Jerusalem – and up to the courts of the temple of the Lord.

In that era, the temple was the place where God’s presence dwelt, in the innermost sanctuary, known as the Holy of Holies. It was there that the Ark of the Covenant was located – the gold-plated wooden chest that housed the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments that were given by Moses to God.

So as God’s people entered the gates of Jerusalem, they would do so with songs of thanksgiving – and as they entered his courts, they would give God thanks and praise his name.

Why? Because they knew they were heading towards the presence of God.

But there was a problem: The Ark of the Covenant was so sacred, the presence of God so revered, that only the Jewish high priest was allowed to enter, through the curtain in the temple, into the Holy of Holies – and only once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

So God’s people could get close to the presence of God, but they couldn’t enter into it directly.

But that all changed with Jesus’ death on the cross, when the curtain in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (As recorded in Matthew 27:51.) Suddenly, the Holy of Holies became accessible to all; the presence of God was no longer contained to that one small sacred space.

Now, when we want to enter into the presence of God, one of the ways we can do so is with songs of praise and worship – for “God inhabits the praises of his people”. (Psalm 22:3)

And if you are in a time of praise and worship, but struggling to engage, then perhaps the key is to start giving thanks – to cultivate thanksgiving in your heart.

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How easy or difficult do you find it to enter into God’s presence through praise and worship? Why might this be?

What difference might it make if you were to start proactively giving thanks, counting your blessings, allowing an attitude of gratitude to dwell in your heart?

As ever, constructive comments are welcome below.

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(Please note: This is my ‘thought for the month’ reflection for November. You can find all my ‘thought for the month’ reflections here.)

Photo from John Price via Unsplash