For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.
Passage: Psalm 84
1 How lovely is your dwelling-place,
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,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.[c]
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d]
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield,[e] O God;
look with favour 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 favour and honour;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose way of life is blameless.
12 Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.
A. Find Out:
- Where does the psalmist yearn to be? v.1,2
- Who are blessed? v.4
- Who also are blessed? v.5a
- What have they done? v.5b-7
- What would the psalmist rather be? v.10
- Why? v.11
B. Think:
- Why does the psalmist want to be in God’s house?
- What sort of pilgrimage does he speak about?
C. Comment:
This is a psalm that rejoices in the wonder of being in God’s presence. It starts out declaring how God’s dwelling place (the temple) is a wonderful place (v.1) and he yearns to be there to be with the Lord (v.2). He notes that even birds have made their nests there (v.3) and indeed anyone who goes to God’s house to praise him is blessed (v.4).
The Temple, for many who live afar off, has to be a place of pilgrimage (v.5) and such a trip was a means of blessing for those who know God and get their strength from Him. On their journey they may go through dry places but it is as if those places will be transformed (v.6) as the thought of meeting with God in Jerusalem strengthens them (v.7).
The psalmist calls on the Lord to hear his call (v.8) and asks the Lord to look upon the anointed one, the ruler of God’s choice (v.9) – is it himself? – because he would rather be a lowly servant in the Temple than live with the world (v.10). Why all this? Because God is like the sun who shines on his life and brings blessing, a means of protection, one who only brings good things (v.11). The psalm is a testimony to the knowledge of the Lord and the ache for the Lord that the psalmist has. It would appear that for some reason he is largely prevented from going to the Temple and thus he envies the birds who live there and the pilgrims who visit there. He knows that in God’s presence is blessing and his heart yearns to be close to the Lord. And us?
D. Application?
- Am I yearning for the presence of the Lord?
- Do I persevere in knowing & experiencing the Lord?