Have you ever experienced praying and praising God and felt like you were facing a blank concrete wall where every word you have spoken bounced back at you?  Oh well, I have.  It felt like I was in a pit of darkness trying so hard to reach the light in the palace of His presence.

Thank God for His Word that when it’s meditated, believed and spoken, it becomes the light upon our path and the lamp upon our feet (Psalm 119:105).  The Holy Spirit Who knows all truth leads us into the door where His presence is accessed without pretense.

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
    He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.” (Psalm 40:1-2)

Instead of stopping when I thought I was not heard, I pressed on.  I went back to His spoken promises that He hears me every time and takes me up and in into His presence.  We are to come BOLDLY into His throne of grace to find mercy and grace in time of need.

At times there will be invisible oppositions that create blockages and barricades, but when we remember what the blood of Jesus fully accomplished at the cross that tore the veil from top to bottom at the temple so you and I can freely access into His very throne, it clears the cobwebs from our thoughts and changes the atmosphere around us.

We are to remember that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  Being clothed with the robe of righteousness and embraced by His manifest presence is where fullness of joy comes.  When it does, out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths are filled with songs of praise.

“He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.”  (Psalm 40:3)

Truly, who can come between us and His presence?  Nothing and no one!  Nothing can separate us from His love.  But we have an enemy who is faithful to his task of creating a distance between us and God with his lies, lies and more lies. We need to be FULLY PERSUADED and FULLY CONVINCED by this truth that no matter what, we, believers, are IN CHRIST and HE is IN us. We are the temples of His Spirit.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:38-39) 

There may be times when we do not see nor feel it that way, but let our faith be founded on the truth of what His word says.  It is the substance of things hoped for.  It is the evidence of things not seen. When truth is established in our lives, the facts change to submit to what He promised.

Blessed is the man who makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after a lie! (Psalm 40:4)

We are to put our trust in the Lord Who knows the end from the beginning of our lives.  We are to seek Him first, His kingdom and His righteousness, for His ways and thoughts are most beneficial to us. There is nothing like the wisdom that He made available for us to partake.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Because our minds are now bombarded by His truth, renewed by the Holy Spirit’s revelation of His word, we perceive things differently.  In the palace of His presence, He reveals to us His secrets.  We now see His goodness and mercy parading before our very eyes where thanksgiving, praise and worship become our response.

“You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    Your wondrous deeds and Your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with You!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
yet they are more than can be told.” (Psalm 40:5)

And this is the best part of it all.

“In sacrifice and offering You have not delighted,
but You have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
    You have not required.”  (Psalm 40:6)

One of the most vital and of utmost necessity for me is to hear Him speak, way above and beyond all other things.  It is the most precious unmerited, undeserved and unearned gift one could ever receive.

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.  He was the perfect offering.  After what He did, nothing else was required of us but to believe in Him and walk worthy of what He fully accomplished.  We live victoriously FROM the victory that He completely and absolutely secured and guaranteed for you and me.

I love the Amplified Classic version of this verse …

“Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.” (Psalm 40:6 AMPC)

Indeed, obedience is better than sacrifice.  But mind you, how can we obey if we do not hear Him speak?  Hmmmmm …

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
    your burnt offerings and sacrifices
    or your obedience to His voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
    and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel  15:22 NLT)

Hearing Him speak in the palace of His presence is ultimate reality. We are to know that! We are to experience and explore that. And we are to eventually express that through our obedience of what we heard.