Psalm 84:1-12
84 How lovely is Your tabernacle,
O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, 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 lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You. Selah
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The 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 O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
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 will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Context
- Why is the presence of God and the house of God so prominent in the Psalms? (Psalm 16:11, 27:4, 42:1, 61:4, 63:1, 2)
Reflection
- What causes one to be so consumed with worshipping God? (Exodus 24:16-18, 34:28, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 2 Sam 6:14-18)
- How do I live in God’s strength? (1 Samuel 30:6, Psalm 19:14, 84:5-7, 91:11, 12, 144:1-3, Neh 8:10, Romans 1:16, Ephesians 3:16, 20, Philippians 4:13)
- Why is ‘one day’ in His house better than a thousand elsewhere? (1 Chron 9:27, Psalm 43:3, 46:4, 63:3, 4, John 2:19, 14:1-3)
- How is the Lord a ‘sun and shield’? How does He give ‘grace and glory?’
(Genesis 39:1, 2, Psalm 27:1, 2, Proverbs 3:6, Daniel 1:9, James 4:6-10)
Testimony Time
- How real is His dwelling place with me-even in the valley? (John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 20, Philippians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10)
- When’s the last time my ‘heart and flesh cried out for the living God’? (Psalm 63:8, 34:6, 73:12, Luke 5:12, Romans 10:13)