Long for the Lord
Psalm 84
Main Idea: We must long for the Lord and come to Him through faith in Jesus.
1 Chronicles 9:19: Shallum the son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his fathers’ house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, keepers of the entrance.
I. How Lovely is the Lord? (84:1-4)
Psalm 84:1-4: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah
1 Kings 8:27: But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Longing for the Lord is aimed in two parallel directions:
Longing that leads to joy
Longing that leads to worship
“The author of Psalm 84 has arrived at the answer to life’s great dilemma: the question of where contentment, satisfaction, peace, joy, life, and all things good may be found. His answer is simple: the good life is where God is.”
~ James Hamilton, Psalms Volume II (Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary)
II. How Strong is the Lord? (84:5-8)
Psalm 84:5-8: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
Philippians 3:12-14: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:16: So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
“The blessedness of sacred worship belongs not to half-hearted, listless worshippers, but to those who throw all their energies into it. Neither prayer, nor praise, nor the hearing of the word will be pleasant or profitable to persons who have left their hearts behind them. A company of pilgrims who had left their hearts at home would be no better than a caravan of carcasses, quite unfit to blend with living saints in adoring the living God. [...] When we have God’s ways in our hearts, and our heart in his ways, we are what and where we should be, and hence we shall enjoy the divine approval.”
~ C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
III. How Much Better is the Lord? (84:9-12)
Psalm 84:9-12: Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!
“Let them make light of thousands of days and desire one day, the day that has no sunrise, no sunset, the one day that is an eternal day, the day that does not displace yesterday or find itself hard pressed by tomorrow. That one day is what we should desire. What use are thousands of days to us? We are traveling from thousands of days towards one day, just as we are proceeding from many virtues to one alone.” ~ St. Augustine, Psalms
Matthew 12:6: I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
1 Peter 2:5: You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
“And we Christians know that God does indeed look with favour on [his] anointed one. Under the kingship of Christ our access to God’s presence is guaranteed. Why then is it so good to enjoy such access? Because (v. 11) God is a sun and shield (so ‘guide and guard my erring heart’); and because he showers favor and honour upon those who seek him. Again the Old Testament language acquires new depths with the coming of Christ: in the fullest sense, grace, glory, and every good thing are given to those whose walk is blameless (v. 11) because it is a walk of faith (v. 12).”
~ Michael Wilcock, The Message of Psalms: Songs for the People of God
