Psalm 24:7-10 “7 Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.

TRIUMPHANT

I just love this Psalm.  Our choir sings a song based on this Psalm that just gets me all excited when I hear it.  I can just envision the Lord entering the gates of the city, triumphant in battle.

But do you know what the psalmist is referring to when he says, “Lift up your heads”?  He is not referring to our physical heads.  He is actually referring to a crossbar that was suspended above the gates that could be lowered or raised to either bar the gate or allow it to be opened.  In other words, open the gates people!  The conquering King has arrived.  Let’s celebrate!

TEACHING MOMENT

In the same way, we must teach our children to open their hearts to the King of Glory, Jesus.  We must show them that we have a choice to make.  We can either keep our hearts closed to His love and mercy or we can open wide our hearts to allow Him to come in and rule.

For some of us, that is hard.  Some of us want to keep our gates barred and our decisions to ourselves.  But we must allow the King to have complete control.  To open the gates is to surrender the city.  To open our hearts is to surrender our lives.

Have you surrendered?  Maybe you have in the past, but you have “reclaimed” part of the city.  Maybe you are hunkered down in some dark corner of the building and are refusing to allow Jesus to have complete control.  Allow Him to rule!  He is a gentle King and loves His children.  Open wide your gates!