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

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

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 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 walk is blameless.

12 LORD Almighty,

blessed is the one who trusts in you.

This year we’ve had a busy season of travel in China. We’ve visited friends, shared their joys and struggles and taken part in their ministries. It has been a delight but it has also been exhausting. And after sleepless nights on board-thin mattresses the mornings usually bring a longing for the comfort of our own bed and our own home. We enjoy travelling and we enjoy seeing other people’s situations but at times there’s something in us that longs to be at home.

Looking at Psalm 84 recently we realised that our natural yearnings faintly echoed the heart of the psalmist.

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!” he begins. “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord…”

The psalmist is away from home but his desire and intention is to return. In his mind he pictures home: God’s house. He sees the courts and its altar but He doesn’t love that place simply because of its beauty, he loves it because it is the place where God dwells. It is his real home. He loves God’s house but more than that He loves God himself.

He sees the altar where sacrifices are made and I find myself asking again whether some of these Old Testament writers longed for something beyond their experiences. Were their arms outstretched trying, with all their strength, to reach beyond the dividing wall of the old covenant towards a better way? Towards the place where through Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice we would receive forgiveness and true restoration with God?

I don’t know. But the psalmist knew it wasn’t an easy journey home to God. He speaks of passing through the Valley of Baca — Baca means weeping. And there are certainly times when we weep, walking in the shadows through suffering that crushes our hearts. Or when we experience a parchedness of soul that fools us into thinking God is a million miles away. Yet, the psalmist tells us if we keep the eyes of our heart fixed on God, allowing His word to be the source of our strength, then we will receive encouragement. He will bring refreshment to our thirsty souls, turning our aridness into springs of joy. In the middle of the devastating circumstances of life he says we will find a supernatural strength that grows in us as we lean deeper into God.

However, unlike our fickle desires for our comfy bed when our backs are sore, our desire to know God must be all-consuming; it must be growing in us and blossoming so that God, by His Spirit, can set the compass of our hearts to reach Him.

The psalmist, living under the conditions of the old covenant, experienced joy and hope but today this psalm gathers new depths as we read it against the backdrop of Christ and his work on the Cross. Under the Lordship of Christ in our lives we have access to His presence and that access is guaranteed. God is the guardian of our souls; He is guide of lives. We are able to experience His grace, His glory and every blessing He has prepared for us as we walk, by faith, to our true home.