In Front of Heaven
John Fischer

Shout with joy to the Lord, O earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him singing with joy. (Psalms 100:1-2)

A business associate of mine recently shared with a number of colleagues how these verses and the rest of this familiar Psalm had helped him turn what seemed like a wasted day into a memorable event. He was on a turnaround two-hour flight that provided him with six hours of consulting time at an airport, but because of weather delays, the flight didn’t get in until just before time to board the return flight home. Obviously his meeting had to be cancelled and the validity of a whole day was put in question.

You can imagine his frustration and the ensuing frustration of his fellow passengers, all of whom were in similar predicaments. In the midst of his anger and stress, my friend related that he thought about Psalm 100 and started to meditate on its truth. What he received through this was an entirely different perspective. He was not a victim of his circumstances; he was not trapped, unless he chose to see it that way. He could just as easily see this situation as a divine appointment. It was all up to him. And as soon as he chose joy, things began to change in his little corner of the airplane. Conversations began to take place; people began to open up; a kind of musical chairs was instituted among some of his fellow passengers, and my friend was right in the middle of it, not only able to experience some of the gladness the psalmist, David, was speaking about, but able to share it as well with others. This kind of gladness of heart is infectious.

He went on to share another story where this same passage had provided comfort for him in the face of losing a close friend to a tragic fatal accident. For this insight, he imagined his friend declaring the words of Psalm 100 in front of heaven, and how that perspective brought new light to its message of truth, and to the comfort it could afford my friend in his loss.

I immediately began to reflect on how other messages that fill our days would stack up “in front of heaven.” It’s a good way to check the validity of so much of what we hear and fill our minds with in contemporary society. Funny how a ball game, or a corporate slogan, or a self-help mantra sounds quite different in light of eternity.

Fill your mind with God’s truth. It will stand not only the test of time, but the test of our human predicaments as well. How well does what you think about hold up in front of heaven?

PDL