I remember when I was young boy one time going to visit my grandmother one summer when her church was doing Vacation Bible School. There was really no one to play with during the day, as we were visiting her throughout the week, so I decided that at least on a couple of days I’d go to VBS and see some kids my own age. The problem was, there were few. So, after our general assembly in the sanctuary where we said pledges to numerous flags and items, I found myself in a class with about five other kids, all of whom were at least two years younger than me. This bummed me out a bit until someone said that the person coming to teach our class was the pastor. I knew him, and was excited to have him come teach us, and was excited to be able to show him some of my Bible knowledge (that is to say, I was prideful).
Anyway, as he walked into the class, he started by asking a simple question, “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” For a bit, the room was silent, and then I thought to myself, “Well, I know the answer to this.” After all, I was thinking pretty highly of myself and my biblical understanding. So I said something like, “Well, the Jews wanted him dead because he was claiming to be God, and they made the Romans know that he was claiming to be a king.” And, then, I sat back in my chair thinking along the lines of how well I’d done and that these other kids probably weren’t as aware of these historical details as I was. Then, however, another kid in the class shot her hand up. The pastor called on her, and she said, “And he died for our sins.” And the pastor looked at her and said, “Yes. That’s right. What Lee said was true, but this is the answer I was really looking for.” And I felt a bit embarrassed and put in my place (though that was not the pastor’s intention).
Now, I remember that moment in that class in VBS not for any holy reason but simply because I had been embarrassed. I had not held on to that memory for any other reason than that it’s easy to recall times when you feel a bit humiliated. It’s kind of odd in life that it’s easy to forget things you wish you would remember forever and sometimes difficult to forget things like embarrassing situations that you wish you could forget.
But this week, remembering that story served me well because I feel like it pictures well for us something that can happen in our lives as believers. What can happen is that as we grow and mature in our Christian faith, understanding of God, and understanding of God’s Word, we can sometimes drift away from some fundamental elements of living the Christian life that we should always see as crucial, constantly hold to, and consistently treasure. And it was in that light that I felt particularly convicted as I meditated on Psalm 84 this week. After all, I think Psalm 84 reminds us of some foundational and fundamental realities that we need to hold to as Christians that are perhaps easy to forget and leave behind in the rearview mirror as we see to grow and learn in the Christian life.
You see, Psalm 84 is about the psalmist’s longing for the Lord. Now, there is all kinds of back and forth between commentators as to whether the psalmist is at the temple, away from the temple, or on his way to the temple. It really is hard to tell. But it reads most clearly, I believe as the psalmist traveling to the temple – if not literally, then in his mind. And if that is the case, then the outline of the psalm would go something like this: verses 1-4 – the psalmist longs to be at the temple, verses 5-8 – the psalmist makes his way to the temple, and in verses 9-12 the psalmist arrives at the temple. Again, it may just be that he’s making such a journey in his mind as he sits to write this psalm, and that it’s easy for him to trace the steps and envision everything in his mind. So, what I want to do this morning is first take a brief survey of the content of the psalm and then point to some fundamentals of the Christian life that I think this psalm helps us to remember.
In verses 1-4, the psalmist speaks of his longing to be in the temple. This is what he means by the “dwelling place” of the Lord in verse 1. It’s not that he thinks that the Lord is confined to the temple, but he recognizes that this is the place that God has chosen to manifest (to make known) his presence among his people. We remember how crucial this was to Moses when after the golden calf incident the Lord said that Moses could lead the people to the promised land, but that the Lord would not allow his presence to be in their midst, meaning perhaps that the tabernacle would have to be constructed outside the camp of the Israelites. But Moses pleaded with the Lord, and ultimately when the tabernacle was constructed, the Lord allowed it to be constructed in the middle of the camp.
Well, like Moses, the psalmist treasures the Lord’s presence. He tells God how lovely the temple is not because of the temple, per se, but because it’s where the Lord was. He expresses that he longs and faints, he is so eager to be in the courts of the temple. Then, in verse 3, he considers that some of the birds – sparrows and swallows – are already there. In fact, they live there, making their nests in the eaves of the temple. It’s as if the birds are better off than he, because they are where he wants to be, which concludes in his declaration in verse 4, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!”
As you then move to verses 5-8, the psalmist considers making the pilgrimage to the temple. In verse 5, he considers those who find their strength in God and make that trip to the temple. Perhaps he means literally or those who envision this trip in their hearts. In verse 6, he envisions walking through arid areas like the Valley of Baca, and yet as they walk through there the rains come and make this desert area a place filled with pools and life. In fact, the trip is such a blessing that in verse 7, he envisions the pilgrims actually gaining strength as they go. Instead of growing tired as they take more and more steps, they go from “strength to strength,” growing in strength as they get closer to appearing before God. And, this stanza then leads him to cry out to God to hear his prayer, as he writes in verse 8, “O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!”
Finally, in verses 9-12, he is there. He arrives and prays for the king, who also represents God’s reign over the people. It’s as if God shines on their king with favor, then he shines on the people as well, so the Psalmist prays, “Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!”
But then he turns his attention back to the temple, noting that being in the courts of the Lord for just one day is better than being a thousand days anywhere else and that being a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord is a better position than holding a place of prominence in the tents of the wicked. And the reason is because the Lord is a sun and shield, who bestows favor and honor on his people, withholding no good thing from him. Then, as he does which each stanza, the psalmist is brought to conclude with a declaration, as he does in verse 12, writing, “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!”
That’s the content of Psalm 84. But it’s tricky to apply isn’t it? After all, the temple in Jerusalem has not stood since AD 70. Furthermore, the Lord taught us that the temple pointed to greater realities. Primarily, Jesus said that the temple pointed to his own body. If, in the Old Testament, you looked to the temple to behold the Lord’s presence, during the days of the incarnation of God the Son, you simply beheld him. And then, as he ascended to heaven, he poured out his Spirit into the hearts of believers so that we ourselves are called the temple of the Holy Spirit. So, how is this psalm supposed to address us who live in such a different situation? Well, let me note just a few ways this morning. The first is that this psalm serves to remind us that . . .
We remember that Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the greatest command is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. But this isn’t simply the greatest commandment for those who live on this side of the death and resurrection of Christ. It is also the greatest commandment in the Old Covenant. In Deuteronomy 6:5, the Lord tells Israel, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Therefore, it is not surprising to see the psalmist’s love for the Lord expressed in this psalm. His affection for the Lord is so great that even the Lord’s temple is lovely. He envies the birds that get to be near God, and would rather be in the courts of the temple one day than a thousand days elsewhere.
The question is, is that descriptive of our affections for God? Or is the idea of loving God something that you’ve moved on from, perhaps to learning about God or numerous other things. Now, it is good that we learn about God, for we cannot love one whom we do not know. But we do not move beyond loving God.
I’ve noted before a J. I. Packer quote in his book Knowing God that I think is very helpful here. He writes, “We need frankly to face ourselves at this point. We are, perhaps, orthodox evangelicals. We can state the gospel clearly; we can smell unsound doctrine a mile away. If asked how one may know God, we can at once produce the right formula: that we come to know God through Jesus Christ the Lord, in virtue of his cross and mediation, on the basis of his word of promise, by the power of the Holy Spirit, via a personal exercise of faith. Yet the gaiety, goodness, and unfetteredness of spirit which are the marks of those who have known God are rare among us—rarer, perhaps, that they are in some other Christian circles where, by comparison, evangelical truth is less clearly and fully known. Here, too, it would seem that the last may prove to be first, and the first last. A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him.1
Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is always the greatest command we bear. So, one way this psalm helps us is that it exhorts us – through the example of the psalmist – to make the goal of our Christian walk, loving our God. Keep this at your constant aim in everything you do. Our greatest good is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.
Second, the psalm reminds us that . . .
Notice how consistently the psalmist speaks of God’s goodness toward his people in this psalm. He notes in verse 4 that those who dwell in the Lord’s house are “blessed.” He notes in verse 5 that those whose strength is in the Lord are “blessed.” He notes the same thing in verse 12 about the one who trusts in the Lord. And the highpoint here is verse 11, where he says, that the Lord is a sun and shield, bestowing favor and honor and “no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
Again, this isn’t simply an Old Covenant picture of God that somehow changes in the New. It’s in the book of James, after all, that we read that the Lord that the Lord does not change or have variation in any way but is rather the one who gives good gifts. And in Romans 8:32 Paul tells us that he who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will surely with him graciously give us all things.
The reason we are tempted to doubt this, no doubt, is because we cannot see the big picture and even when we are aware of the big picture, we choose sometimes to ignore it. Taking the first part of that statement first, isn’t it quite arrogant of us to accuse God of withhold good gifts from us when 1) he says he will not do so, and 2) he knows the beginning from the end and wrote in his book all the days of our lives when as yet there were none of them? To believe that God is withholding what is best for us would then be to declare that he is untruthful with us in such texts as Psalm 84:11 and is like an ant critiquing the path I’m taking as I walk across the yard. After all, only one of us can even see over the blades of grass.
So, this truth means that we can find ourselves rejoicing at God’s gifts, and at times, we simply find ourselves trusting, acknowledging that we do not understand or see the big picture, but that we know God, what he has said to us, and what he has proven to us in sending his Son to die for us.
And I will add that these first two notes we’ve mentioned really feed on each other. That is, the more you love God, the more you will trust him, and the more you trust him, recognizing his great love for you, the more you will love him. One of the ways we grow in our love for God is simply walking through life and its difficulties, believing his promises and trusting in him to provide us strength and faith in our weakness.
Third, the psalm reminds us that . . .
Now, this note is clearly related to the last, but I wanted to stress it separately just to make sure we give our attention to it. It’s perhaps easy for us to overlook the weight of the psalmist’s words in verse 10 where he says, “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 the wicked.”
Again, it’s easy for us to go, “Of course.” After all, eternity is a long time, and those who do not know God will be cast into hell while those who know the Lord’s saving grace will spend eternity with him. So, of course it’s better to be one day knowing the Lord than to have a thousand days and be a wicked man.
Yet, do we live that way? That is, isn’t it easy for us to envy the lives of the wicked? Perhaps now your greatest struggle is that you do not have something or long for something that several wicked people around you do have. Maybe it’s a spouse, or children, or healthy children, or a good job, or money, or prestige, or a hundred other things, and the reason you’re struggling today is because you envy them. I mean, consider Jacob and Esau. Which of their lives would you want? That’s hands down an easy answer if there’s no eternity. It’s Esau. Have you read all the blessings he had in this life? And Jacob, meanwhile, has fighting and labor and difficulty and struggles at every point. But God says, “Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated.”
One thing the psalmist helps us with in saying that one day in the Lord’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere and that being a doorkeeper in the house of God is better than dwelling in the tents of the wicked is recognizing what’s really important. You see, there’s a reason he says “one day” and “being a doorkeeper.” It’s because those aren’t impressive. Spending one day somewhere is nothing compared to a thousand. And being a doorkeeper seems like one of the lower positions of labor. But what he’s saying is, “Who cares, when one is in God’s presence and the other is in a place of condemnation?”
We need to remember this. It is fundamental, but it cannot be forgotten. Do not spend your life envying the possessions or apparent blessings of the wicked when the Lord has chosen to give you eternal life. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? And what a blessing is it if a man lacks most everything but has Christ?
And finally, the psalm reminds us that . . .
We don’t know if the psalmist actually made it to the temple, just made the journey in his mind, was standing at the temple, or was a thousand miles away from it. Again, commentators disagree. However, it doesn’t really matter, because we’re supposed to see and hear and feel the psalmist’s longing. And it reminds us that the consistent position for the Christian is to be in a place of longing.
In this world we struggle with sin ourselves and see the effect of sin all around us. We watch the reign of death as we lose loved ones and watch the violence of men all around us. And, we long for the Lord’s comfort sometimes and feel that he is distance or struggle so deeply in our hearts without even knowing what to pray. Well, one reason we do is because we’re not home yet. And one reason, it seems, the Lord allows that longing in our hearts for our home is so that we will not forget what is to come and will let that shape how we live.
God sent his Son into the world to die for our sins and to be raised for us. And after he died, he ascended back into heaven to be at the Father’s right hand until a day comes when he will return to judge the living and the dead. On that day, he will come to take his people to be with him forever. That is real. Therefore, let us live our lives now, making our greatest aim to love God more, rejoicing in his good gifts when we see them and trusting him when it seems impossible to see them, remembering always that we are infinitely more blessed than the one who has everything and yet does not know Christ, and let us long for our home. After all, he is coming to get us to take us there someday. And until he comes, let us be found faithful. Amen.