We in America take our churches for granted. In most cities and towns, there is a church within a few miles, if not blocks from where you live. Back in the Old Testament Days, the Hebrew people worshiped God at the appointed feasts and they had to travel to Jerusalem to the only temple. This psalm is love song to the Temple of the Lord. Let’s dig in…
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah, to be accompanied by a stringed instrument.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
I will shout joyfully to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
at a place near your altar,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
4 What joy for those who can live in your house,
always singing your praises. Interlude5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
7 They will continue to grow stronger,
and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
Listen, O God of Jacob. Interlude9 O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!
Show favor to the one you have anointed.10 A single day in your courts
Psalm 84 NLT
is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
He gives us grace and glory.
The Lord will withhold no good thing
from those who do what is right.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
what joy for those who trust in you.
The Lord’s Courts
The word “courts” here doesn’t mean a criminal court. The psalmist talks about the courts of the temple. He longs so much to spend all his time there that he is even jealous of the birds who live in its rafters.
Back in the day, the people of Israel made pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem several times a year. In fact, Psalms 120-134 are called the Psalms of Ascents. The people would sing them as they ascended to Jerusalem.
In between trips to the temple, the psalmist yearned to be there.
3 Stanzas
Pastor Sandy Adams explains…
Psalm 84 is a song of pilgrimage. Three times a year Jews journeyed to Jerusalem to worship God at the Temple. Twice in the spring, in early April at Passover, in late May at Pentecost – and once in October at the Feast of Tabernacles. Psalm 84 consists of three stanzas. Stanza One depicts the psalmist’s passion for God’s presence. The second stanza recounts his pilgrimage. And the third stanza describes the peace he finds in God’s presence.
Think of the psalm this way… His thirst for God. His trip to God. And the treats of God. Psalm 84 applies to every heart that’s thirsty for God.
Pastor Sandy Adams
Are you thirsty for God?
The folks at Spoken Gospel elaborate…
Like the psalmist, many of us feel far from God and wonder if we will ever experience his forgiveness and blessing again. Thankfully, God answered the psalmist’s longing, not by allowing him and other pilgrims to finally travel to the temple, but by sending Jesus. He is God’s final temple to them. In Jesus, the psalmist’s deep longings for God’s presence, strength, and forgiveness are met—not by a pilgrim’s jealousy for and journey towards the temple but by God’s jealousy for and journey towards his people (John 6:38).
Jesus told us that he was his people’s ultimate temple (John 2:19-21). It’s not because he would become a building, but because, in his own body, he would secure forever what the temple and its sacrifices had always intended to provide. Namely, access to God’s presence through God’s forgiveness of his people. We come to God’s presence not by traveling to Jerusalem, but simply by asking God’s temple—the Spirit of Jesus—to come to us.
The psalmist also asked God to protect the king so that he could protect the temple until he arrived there. And Jesus is the King who protects God’s temple for the benefit of pilgrims like us (Hebrews 1:3-4). Jesus the King protects the temple by dying as our ultimate sacrifice. In his death on the cross he not only secures forgiveness and blessing unparalleled by the death of animals in the temple, but he also makes those blessings permanent and eternal (Hebrews 10:4). But King Jesus didn’t let the temple of his body remain dead, he raised it never to die again. Jesus the King has been victorious over the ultimate enemy, and his temple will never be threatened again. That means God’s presence, his blessing, and his forgiveness will always be ready and waiting for those who want to receive it.
Spoken Gospel
But as you just read, God is with us! If you are a Born-Again Believer, you have Jesus in your heart in the form of the Holy Spirit. If you’re not, then what are you waiting for?
