66 - How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place!

Psalm 84:1–12 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 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. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 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. 11 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. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

This seemed to me like an “already," "not yet” psalm as I looked through it. Let's take a look and break it down into 4 sections as we do so:

The want (v 1-4). The psalmist spends the first few verses expressing his desire and longing to be at the dwelling place of God - which would have been the place where God was symbolically present with His people in the Ark of the Covenant. Wherever the LORD of hosts is specially present, that is a special place for His people. His whole being rejoices and worships at the very thought of it. He almost seems to envy the sparrows and the swallows that have been able to make their permanent homes in that place. Indeed, all who dwell there and sing God’s praise are truly blessed. Perhaps the writer is excited because he is about to travel to Jerusalem for one of the appointed feasts, since he now apparently turns his attention to those journeys.

The walk (v 5-7). As the people travel, their hearts are set on reaching their goal and they find strength for the journey by the thought of what awaits them at their destination (v 5). It may be meant physically, but I am sure the psalmist also means that the pilgrims were refreshed by the blessings of God as they traveled towards the City of God - and that barren wastelands became fertile streams and pools for them. They get stronger and more expectant as they draw nearer to the end of their journey.

The worship (v 8-9). Now he has arrived and he sets about pleading with God to be heard - to be received into His presence. He reminds God of His promises by addressing Him first as the God of Jacob and then by asking that God consider the Messiah (anointed), great David’s greater son and hear him for His sake.

The “Wow” factor (v 10-11). He seems to take a step back and meditate on what he has been able to do in drawing near to the LORD of hosts and being heard by Him. Can there be a greater privilege, or a better or more profitable way to spend one’s time than this? Even the lowliest position that can be thought of among those who are present in the Lord’s House is more desirable than to be out in the world with those who have no regard for God. This God is the light and the protection of His people, and He graciously blesses them and raises them to places of honor in His kingdom. He doesn’t hold back in His blessings, but lavishes good things upon His children. Amazing grace!

So where does the “already” and “not yet” come in?

Already. As God’s children here and now, He lives in each of us by His Spirit. We are the temple now - we are the House of God! We may know more fully and at a more spiritual level all the blessings and all the good things that the psalmist was writing of under the Old Covenant! So go back and read the psalm in that light, in terms of your personal devotions, and think about your own times of worship and prayer accordingly. Think of the access you have to be heard for the sake of the Messiah - see if there isn’t a “wow factor” in that for you!

Already. We know God’s presence especially as we come together for worship as His church - as the building that He is constructing for His eternal dwelling. That is a matter of promise from the lips of our Savior! Re-read the Psalm, and think of our church in that regard. The “House of God” is the redeemed saints! We are the “Temple” (not the building in which we meet). We are the “sanctuary” (not the gymnasium for the time we are worshipping there). The only thing that makes the gym more holy during the worship is the people of God, in whom He dwells! Another “wow factor”!

Not Yet. We live in the anticipation of the gathering of all God’s people, the wedding supper of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem (which is the church again) and the full and final consummation of God’s plan of redemption for His glory. We should look forward with longing to that day! So read the Psalm one more time but with that great day in mind, when we shall see our Savior as He is and we shall be made like Him, and there will be no sin to get in the way of our worship and no tears, pain or grief. He will have made everything new - a home of righteousness for us to dwell in with Him forever. There’s the ultimate “wow factor”!