- (For the music leader. A psalm for the people of Korah.) LORD God All-Powerful, your temple is so lovely!sermons
- Deep in my heart I long for your temple, and with all that I am I sing joyful songs to you.sermons
- LORD God All-Powerful, my King and my God, sparrows find a home near your altars; swallows build nests there to raise their young.sermons
- You bless everyone who lives in your house, and they sing your praises.sermons
- You bless all who depend on you for their strength and all who deeply desire to visit your temple.sermons
- When they reach Dry Valley, springs start flowing, and the autumn rain fills it with pools of water.sermons
- Your people grow stronger, and you, the God of gods, will be seen in Zion.sermons
- LORD God All-Powerful, the God of Jacob, please answer my prayer!sermons
- You are the shield that protects your people, and I am your chosen one. Won't you smile on me?sermons
- One day in your temple is better than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather serve in your house, than live in the homes of the wicked.sermons
- Our LORD and our God, you are like the sun and also like a shield. You treat us with kindness and with honor, never denying any good thing to those who live right.sermons
- LORD God All-Powerful, you bless everyone who trusts you.sermons
As we read this psalm we should understand that in the Old Testament context, the believer went to the Lord through the temple priest who was the mediator between God and man. With the coming of Christ, He is now our mediator who dwells within the believer through His Holy Spirit. We can approach the Lord and be in His presence at anytime and anywhere. For the Christian, verse 1 can be read, "How lovely it is to be in Your presence, LORD of Hosts." Having said that, I recognize that it is special to be in the Lord's presence along with other believers as is our practice on a Sunday to gather with other believers for worship.
Not only does the psalmist long to be in the courts of the Lord, he says that even the sparrows and the swallows build their nests "near Your altars, Lord of Hosts." (84:3) The believer who longs for the Lord's presence and makes the Lord his strength, finds happiness. This happiness is described in two ways. The first compares it to the "Valley of Baca," a waterless place that became a "source of springwater." This pictures our lives as arid and dry apart from the Lord, but as a source of springwater when we spend time in the Lord's presence. The second description says that those who make the Lord their strength "go from strength to strength." The image that comes to my mind as I read this is of walking from stone to stone across a pool of water. Though our foot might slip and get wet, we don't have to wade the water, but can get back up on the stones and keep going. Though we may have times of weakness, that is not our continual state, for in the Lord we are going from strength to strength, growing continually stronger and not from weakness to weakness growing continually weaker.
The psalmist concludes that a day in the Lord's presence is better than a thousand days anywhere else. Why? "For the LORD God is a sun and shield. The LORD gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity." (84:11) Finally he says, "happy is the person who trusts in You!" This is to be contrasted with the one who dabbles with religion thinking the Lord might smile on them and make their lives better or the one who makes the Lord his good luck charm thinking it will keep the bad away. No, this speaks of one who trusts all aspects of their lives to the Lord. They trust that He will not only care for them and protect them, but that the life He gives them will be better than the one they might devise on their own.
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