“Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; and let them say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant’” (Psalms 35:27 NASB).

The word is shalom— the Lord delights in the the shalom of His servant.  Most of us understand this particular word as meaning “peace,” and that it does; however, it is much, much broader than that.  It is translated  by multiple different words (though peace or a variant is used over 150 times) and has the overall sense of completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace.  It might well be rendered, “Welfare” (ESV) or, “Well-being” (NIV).  A more comprehensive look at it would be as follows:

Completeness (in number)

Safety, soundness (in body)

Welfare, health, prosperity

Peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment

Peace, friendship

of human relationships

with God, especially in covenant relationship

Peace (from war)

Peace (as an adjective)

—not a bad list, and things I think most folks would want present in their lives, things people pursue all the time although in all the wrong places.

The thing to pick up here is that God delights, not in these things in and of themselves, but when they characterize the life of one of His children.  In other words, it pleases God that His son or daughter possess these qualities.  That is, when you or I are safe and sound, when we’re healthy and prosperous, when we are at peace with God and men, when there is an absence of conflict, this delights God.

I could summarize it this way:  when I am happy, God is happy.

The apostle John conveys this selfsame message when he writes,  “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).

It is noteworthy the words “His servant.”  The thing is, I don’t believe God is so pleased when the ungodly prosper, because if you read and understand the Scripture, you will find that, for the most part, the achieve prosperity in all the wrong ways, or with the wrong motives — or, they use what they have for the wrong things.  Non-Christians prosper, for sure, and there are reasons for this; but if I read this right (and I believe I do), then His delight is aroused when it is His servant that experiences the well-being.  I note too:  it is His servant — that is, a man or a woman who serves Him.  This by definition would disqualify the person who professes to believe in God and His Son, Jesus, but who does nothing to demonstrate that faith.  I do think it is God’s heart for that person to prosper, but servanthood—as least as it is seen here in Psalm 35—is the prerequisite.

What else I pick up here is God’s heart.  He is certainly not stingy, and I don’t believe for a moment that He takes pleasure in  a child of His suffering conflict , sickness, and poverty.  I don’t see that anywhere.  I mean, though Jesus “was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.”  And He doesn’t withhold things from us.  Just one Psalm back we read, “O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him there is no want.  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;  but they who seek the Lord shall not e in want of any good thing” (34:9-10).  And in the all-too-familiar Psalm, Psalm 23:  “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. . .”  God’s heart is shalom, and it so pleases Him when His children possess it.

The Greek equivalent to shalom is eirene, and it means essentially the same thing.  Thus, when Jesus greets the brothers holed up behind locked doors and says, “Peace by with you,” He is not only imparting an overall sense of assuring calm, but those qualities that can be best described as well-being.

God is concerned for our welfare, and He is quite happy when we have it.  This is good news, that we’ve a God like this.  It is okay to feel good.  It is okay to enjoy the good things of God; He delights in that.  But let’s make sure we believe this about Him, and let’s be sure to posture ourselves rightly by taking on the attitude of a servant.

“Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business” (John 2:16).

How I marvel at these words! How they stir up my insides!  Whereas we know from other passages that God does not dwell in a house made by human hands (Acts 7:48); and, from Jesus’ words just a few more lines down, He spoke of the temple of His body.  Further still, we find out later in the New Testament that each believer’s body becomes a home for the Holy Spirit–still, Jesus here refers to the the physical Temple, the building, as God’s house.  

This isn’t the first time.  As a young boy missing from his family’s caravan, when found in the Temple, He explained, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49).  

All of which is to say, God has a house.  Yes, heaven cannot contain Him.  And for sure, He dwells in every Christian.  But He does have a house, too.  And this, in our day, is not less than the church.  

I know, I know, I know…..the church is not a building, but people.  I know that.  But God’s people meet somewhere, typically in a building of sorts; albeit a home, a cathedral, or a tent.  The place where believers meet, that is the church, and that—this is what stirs my soul–is the Father’s house.  

People these days belittle the church.  Even Christians, they do not feel the need, nor do they have the desire, to gather together with other Christians in a place we call church.  Typically, the reasons fall along these lines:  the people are all hypocrites.  All they want from you is your money.  Or, I don’t have the time.  Much of the reason lies in the fact most Christians don’t read the Bible, so they don’t understand that we are told, “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25).  Perhaps the greatest reason is that they don’t understand that the church is God’s house.  Worse yet, they don’t care.  

By definition a church is simply an assembly of persons.  In fact, is was used even of secular, non-religious meetings.  Yet for followers of Christ, whenever and wherever they gather together, there is a dynamic absent any other assembly on the face of the earth:  the Lord Jesus is there present among them.  

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20).  

Christians who neglect church–assembling together with other Christians–miss out on the Great Attender, Jesus Christ.  Why bother?  The Lord is there!  Yes, God is everywhere.  You can encounter Him in a forrest or field, on your knees or in the shower.  Yet the Lord does not promise His presence in these places; He promises it when there are two or more of you together in one spot.  

By referring to the Temple as “My Father’s house,” Jesus sanctions the physical location of God’s presence.  We, the people of God, are His house (cf., Hebrews 3:6)–when we are gathered together.

As for me, as much as I love the church, today I receive an attitude adjustment.  I do not love her enough.  I have not esteemed the assembly of saints (i.e., true believers) highly enough.  I have not regarded it as the Father’s house.  Today I do.  

I note with interest the balance of our Lord’s words.  He says, “stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”  These days the church in many respects has become big business.  It has business managers, financial experts, marketing and sales departments.  It has huge budgets, needing much cash to support the physical property it owns.  Not that these are not necessary; as the assembly expands, so the needs to accommodate them.  Yet the church is not a business; if it becomes that, the Lord’s rebuke has been issued.  It is a spiritual entity, an organism as opposed to an organization.   And, given God’s thoughts and ways are not man’s, and His kingdom opposite that of the world’s, it is operated completely different.  Sometimes not even making sense.  

Imagine God, maker of heaven and earth, the one who loves you and who sent His Son to die for you–imagine Him living just down the street, even next door.  Imagine Him inviting you to come visit Him.  This, my friend, requires no imagination.  He is doing just this.  He is beckoning you, “Come see Me.  Come to My house.  You who believe in Me, join with others who believe.  Gather together with My people in My house.  This is church; this is where I am.”

When you don’t know what to do, pray.

When you don’t know how to do a thing, pray.

When in the doing of a thing, you become confused, pray.

When you lack wisdom, pray.

When you lack desire, pray.

When you are tired and lacking strength, pray.

When you are afraid, pray.

When you feel anxious about a thing, pray.

When your job is in jeopardy, pray.

When your marriage is in trouble, pray.

When you lack resources, pray.

When you are sick or otherwise in ill health, pray.

When you are stressed, pray.

When you feel hopeless, pray.

When you need vision, pray.

When you do not know which direction to go, pray.

When faced with a decision to make, any decision, pray.

When you are hurting inside, pray.

When you don’t feel quite right–physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually, pray.

When tragedy strikes, pray.

When in danger, pray.

When embarking on a journey, pray.

When your friend has a need, pray–then do what you can to help him.

When your spouse, or your son or your daughter, or your grandchild, or you friend, strays, pray.

Before you eat, pray.

After you eat, pray.

Before you lay you head upon your pillow, pray.

If you wake up in the morning, it is good cause to pray.

If you can see, hear, smell, taste, touch–if you can do anything at all, pray.

If you have food, clothing, and shelter, pray.

If your body works at all, pray.

If you are beginning a thing, pray.

Or ending a thing, pray.

If going to war, definitely pray.

If you come home from war, pray.

If you live in peace, in any degree of it, pray.

If you are under tyranny, pray.

If you are enslaved by anyone or anything, pray.

If you are free, pray.

If you are at the end of your life, pray. 

If you are pregnant, pray.

When giving birth, pray!

When raising that child, those children, absolutely pray.

When you send them off to school, pray.

When you give your daughter to another man in marriage, pray.

While she is growing up, and well before she ever meets the man she will marry, pray.

If you wish to be forgiven, pray.

Or to be free from a person or thing, pray.

If you have lost your way, pray.

If your heart has become hard, and you know it, pray.

Pray that your heart never becomes hard.

If you want to know the truth about anything, pray.

If you have a job, pray.

If you don’t have a job and are in need of one, pray.

If you are doing well, are well-off, pray.

If you have any need whatsoever, or no need at all, pray.

If you think you’ve no need, then you absolutely must pray.  

If and when anything good comes your way–and it always does, pray.

When it storms, pray.

When it is beautiful outside, pray.

When you meet the man or woman of your dreams, pray.

When you are old and decrepit, it is time to pray.

If you can think straight, pray.  

If you have breath in you, pray.

Pray at all times and in every circumstance, and never, ever give up.  

Luke 18:1, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”