Psalm 84 - Enjoying the presence of God

A fairly difficult passage for me. But I hope I have made it clear enough to understand. I put my reflections in between passages for this particular psalm so that it is easier to understand, hopefully..

Psalm 84

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! ² My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. ³ Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. ⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. ⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. ⁷ They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah. ⁹ Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one. ¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

¹² O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

The psalm for the past few days is Psalm 84.

Introduction:

“How lovely are Thy dwelling places…” (v1,12)

A tour of beautiful houses on Mercer Island (including Bill Gates). Best dwelling place of all found in Psalm 84.

Two important keys to trusting God are:

A. Our Supreme Delight in God.(v1-4)

“How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house..” (v4)

1. ‘How lovely’ or better, ‘how dearly loved’ (v2)

When the writer composed Psalm 84, he knew where God dwelling place was to be found which is in Jerusalem, in the temple. The temple was lovely, not only because of its striking architecture, but most of all because it signified God’s presence with His people. What indeed, could be more lovely than this?

As a Christian, where is our dwelling place now?

I was stuck at this part. At first, when I read this psalm, I thought the dwelling place meant Heaven. Then I started thinking, could it be the church? Or is it The Word? Or our bodies as Paul said in First Corinthians 6 that our bodies are the “temples” of the Holy Spirit who lives within us? After talking to WL, dwelling place can be anywhere God is – His presence is everywhere!! How blessed, how lovely are those who dwell in Your presence!!

The Psalmist sees an inner beauty that God creates by his presence: “How lovely is your dwelling place.” That’s why he is excited about being in the presence of God.

The dwelling place is the place where God lives, the heart where God dwells, becomes a lovely place, a beautiful spot.

2. Hunger for God: in life, we make room for what we’re hungry for.

The Psalmist creates a compelling hunger. “My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord.” Have you known a deep-seated longing to have more of the glory of God, more of the sense of His presence in your life? Have you fed upon His word and been satisfied, and yet as you went away, felt a hunger for more?

This is the wonderful ability of God to satisfy us and at the same time makes us hungry for more! Like what I have shared before about how hungry I was after doing my quiet time. I started off with an hour of quiet time, and this hunger grew. If I don’t put a balance to it, I could possibly sit all day just trying to figure out more of what the psalm meant to me.

God’s presence gives us a joyful vitality. “My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” God meant life to be an exciting experience.

Look at John 4 on the story of where the Lord meets a bored woman who came to a well. The bored woman had run through several experiences of marriage already (having had five husbands) and trying vainly to find something to satisfy her. Life for her had grown tedious and dull and boring. Jesus then said to her,

“If you knew who it is that is asking you to drink, you would ask of me and I would put in you a well of living water, springing up unto eternal life.” (John 4:10-14)

The “well” was referring to the Lord. He would enter her heart and he would become to her a well from which she could drink at any time.

This reminds me of whenever my outward circumstances get boring, I would drink from that which is within. Take a good long drink of the living God who lives within. Remind myself of who He is and of my relationship with him, and that He is continually there. My spirit will then be refreshed and I will go back to the same old work but with a new attitude.

3. Yearning for God elaborated in v3-4.

Privilege of Access (v3) – “Even Thy altars”

Sparrow is a popular symbol for insignificance as seen in the statements below.

The Lord Jesus speaks to his disciples referred to the sparrows. “Not one of them will fall to the ground without your father’s will” (Matthew 10:29), he said, “you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:31)

In another place, Lord Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold in the market-place for a farthing (the smallest value of money)?” (Luke 12:6)

Sparrows represent those who feel they are not worth anything.

This Psalmist then says, even the man or woman who feels insignificant finds in God a home, a place of warmth and security, a place where life is fulfilled. You may feel terribly useless, but when you come to God you will find through him a wonderful sense of purpose.

Have you ever felt insignificant? So insignificant that you think you cannot do mighty things for God?

How many times God passes over the proud, the haughty, the powerful and selects some insignificant obscure individual and uses him to accomplish His purposes.

Gideon was that kind of a man. He was so sure he didn’t amount to anything that he protested when God called him to deliver Israel.

Moses did the same thing. He had been a king’s son in the courts of Pharoah with all the possibilities of power at his command, but he felt he had blown it when he killed that Egyptian and had to flee to the backside of the desert. He thought he had wrecked his life and that there was no more chance for him.

But it wasn’t over in God’s scheme; all that had happened was only part of the training course. When Moses had reached the place where God could work through him, God picked him up in his insignificance and began to use him mightily.

It is usually to those who have a deep sense of failure that the call of God comes, for they can understand how others feel.

When I first arrive in UK, I felt so insignificant. I see so many leaders in church doing great things for God and I wonder if I could do the same. My cooking wasn't great. My piano playing was rubbish. Everything in me felt rubbish. I felt that I couldn't be used by God in any way. But God gave me many opportunities and I learned. I pick up things over the years from friends and from leaders. To be honest, I don't even realise what my gifts are when I first came to UK. I came to UK knowing nothing. It probably took a few years before I realise my gifts or for God to show me where my gifts lie. It is only then I am able to use my gifts for His kingdom.

Privilege of intimacy (v4) – “dwell”

The swallow are swiftest of birds and exemplify restless activity. The swallow represents those people who are restless, who are forever looking for something new. They settle down and try this and that but it doesn’t work. But even the swallow, says the psalmist, can find in God a home, a place to build a nest and to raise young, a place or purpose and fulfillment.

The only place where the restless will ever find rest is in God.

“Come unto me, all who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29).

If I am restless, God wants to give me rest and I will find it only “at thy altars.”

B. Our Steadfast Dependence upon God. (v5-12)

“How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee…” (v5)

Three things highlighted for us:

1. God is totally dependable (v5) – Jer 2.13

When we get in difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is our strength?

Jeremiah 2:13

¹³ "My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

When life is good without any pressures, that is when I tend to forget God. Everything in life is going too well, I tend to feel that I don’t need God in my life. I take God blessings for granted. I live a life like that until troubles come. Then I fall apart. I have forgotten that God is someone whom I can depend on whether or not my life is going well or in pieces.

God reminds me that he is the spring of living water. I need to make my heart His dwelling place so that I can drink from it and refresh my spirit.

A wonderful story from Ray Stedman:

One Saturday night I came home after a day away from my church responsibilities and I was tired, very tired. My wife told me some of the things that had been happening, some of the pressures that had come that day from the church and from the family. They were the kind of things I would normally want to lay before the Lord and pray about. But I didn't feel like praying. I was tired and I wanted to go to bed. I thought to myself, "What's the use of praying, anyway? I'm so tired that my prayers wouldn't have any power."

Then it struck me; what a thing to say! What difference does it make how I feel? My reliance isn't upon my prayers but upon God's power. It always bothers me to hear Christians talk about "the power of prayer." There isn't any power in prayer. There is power in the God who answers prayer. I was rebuked in my own spirit by the remembrance that it makes no difference how tired I happen to be. So I prayed -- very short, because the power of prayer doesn't lie in the length of it, either. Charles Spurgeon used to speak of those who had the idea that the power of the ministry lay in the lungs of the preacher. But it doesn't lie there, either. Power lies in the God who is behind prayer. "Blessed are the men -- and women -- whose strength is in thee."

2. God is totally dependable EVEN in the most difficult of situations. (v6) – “valley of Baca”

The valley of Baca is the valley of weeping. A place of sorrowing, of despair, of discouragement. But the pilgrims who passes through that valley, turned it into a place of fountains, of refreshment, of satisfaction by the means of the Holy Spirit. The pilgrims are able to turn sorrow into joy by means of the Holy Spirit who fills their lives with pools of blessing, and springs of joy.

The pilgrims are men and women who know how to build in their hearts a highway for God. When they get into the valleys, they bring them up to the level by trust in God:”every valley shall be exalted.” And when they get to a mountain of difficulty, they judge it in the light of the word, and bring it low: ‘Every mountain shall be made low.”

Thus, they make a highway for God to travel in blessing. They did not ask God to take them out of the valley but they make it a spring. Their strength is in God, and they have made a highway by which God can work in the valleys and mountains.

“They go from strength to strength.” They get better and better as they experience God’s grace until ultimately, the God of gods is seen in Zion. The manifestion of the invisible God becomes visible through the lives of people (The glory of God!)

Lord, help me to learn where my strength lies and to build in my heart highways for God so that I can go through the valley of weeping and make it a place of springs and so go from strength to strength until the God of gods is seen.

3. God is totally dependable to the end (v7-11)

a) His cry (v9) – even the king is dependent on God.

b) His choice (v10) – God vs World. It is my choice whether or not I let God dwell in my hearts or whether I let my heart be the dwelling of the wicked or things of the world.

c) His conviction (v11) – the goodness of God. God is a sun to me especially when I am in darkness and I do not know where I am going or what lies ahead of me. He is also a shield around me, guarding me, guiding me and protecting me.

God is a sun and a shield, and gives grace and glory.

The inner gift: Grace is for pressures. It is his power to keep the heart at peace within.

The Outward expression: God gives grace in order to bring us to glory. He is constantly giving grace and glory. He does not take us out of the pressures, but He gives us grace in the midst of them in order that He might bring us to glory (thanksgiving, joy and gladness).

A short conversation between me and WL:

wee says:

delighting

stephanie - I’m the undeserving recipient of a love I have no right to expect and blessings I have no ability to measure. says:

delight is trusting?

wee says:

results in a wonderful sense of who God really is

trusting often requires condition

if God does this

then I will trust him

it is conditional

that is why we find to hard to trust

but when we move beyond that

to unconditional

that is delighting

stephanie - I’m the undeserving recipient of a love I have no right to expect and blessings I have no ability to measure. says:

icic

wee says:

cos delighting is unconditional

as in us worshipping him unconditionally

even if he does not give us this and that

We just delight in him

stephanie - I’m the undeserving recipient of a love I have no right to expect and blessings I have no ability to measure. says:

ooooo

icic

at first I dun really see the connection

haahhaa

maybe I have been trusting God on conditions too much

lolz

wee says:

yes

u are not delighting

This psalm teaches me to delight in the Lord. To make my heart his dwelling place. Not asking Him to take me out of the valleys and mountains but to make it a place of springs. This reminds me again and again that if I am going through a time of pressure, thank God for it and ask for grace. He will give it and it will lead me on to glory. But the problem is that I am impatient and always wanting it to happen now. This is our problem - We want glory all the time. But God knows that is not good for us. So He gives us grace first, and then glory. Therefore, teach me to wait upon and know that You will bring me to glory that is beyond my wildest dreams.

Conclusion:

A passion for God…A matter of the heart!

4-year-old daughter: “My heart is for loving God.”

Two vital lessons – Hunger and Surrender.