Psalm 84:1-7 - God's Lovely Dwelling Place

Psalm 84:1-7
¹ How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!
² My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
³ The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.
⁴ How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You. Selah.

⁵ How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion!
⁶ Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
⁷ They go from strength to strength,

Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

Message: God's lovely dwelling place

Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

I continue to learn about prayer and intentional praying. I have good days and not so good days. But, I believe I am showing my deep commitment to Him more and more and my dependence on Him. I want to be devoted to the Lord above everything else and perhaps this Psalm provides me with those words to pray.

Verse 1 speaks of the loveliness of the dwelling places of the Lord. In this regard, it is right to make the dwelling places of the Lord beautiful. We should desire that our places of worship are aesthetically beautiful and are places we desire to be. Yet, loveliness I think also means that it is an inviting place where the people find rest there. Verse 2 talks about my soul longs to be there. Do I long to be at church? Do I long to be in fellowship with others or are my longings for sports and games and friends or just being at home? Church should be a place that we desire to be. For it is there My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Verse 3 says it is a place the bird and swallow find sanctuary to be at. God's creature desire to be with God's other creatures. 

Verse 4 speaks of the special blessing that takes place to those that gather at the House of the Lord. It is a joy to ever praise you. I think of a concert I went to recently. There was a joy being with people that shared the love for the music and sang along with the songs. When we are all singing at church in one accord there is beauty in that moment, as we worship the Lord. Verse 5 speaks of my strength being in the Lord and that blessedness. The Bible repeats over and over that we are to be blessed and so we should always be seeking out from God's word what it means to be blessed and we should seek after those things. 

Verse 6 speaks of the valley of Baca and passing through it. I found these words from a commentary online:

The valley of Baca was some waterless and barren valley through which pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem; but faith turns it into a place of springs, finding refreshment under the most untoward circumstances, while God refreshes them with showers of blessing from above, as the autumnal rains clothe the dry plains with grass and flowers.

God makes barren feel full. God is our strength and as we seek him and desire to worship him, he makes a dry land bring refreshment. I think of the man that I see at church who sits up front, but I watch him during the service and he is deep in praise and worship of God. His arms are open and his body is in highest praise. He looks like this is his favorite place. He looks like he is there to dwell with God. He is captivated by that moment and he positions himself in the center, at the front. It is appealing to watch him and yet, his devotion is out of place and somewhat different. Yet there are others, like the Denman's that are embraced, arm in arm and smiling and happy as they sing together. But, there are many of us that just stand erect and stare and are basically in between two worlds. We are trying to pull ourselves away from one and walk into another.

O God, teach me over and over the meaning of worship. I want to stand before you and worship you. Teach me how to do this. I don't just want to enjoy music and instruments though I thank you for the enjoyment of those tunes and the song leaders and the violin. But, I want my heart to focus on worship and what it really means. Jesus, help me.

Promise: From Tabletalk -- Christ is better than any of the pleasures this world has to offer.