Psalm 84

Recap last week

I have slected psalms that have the most highlights

What this psalm means to me

know one really knows who wrote this psalm,

The psalmist could have written before exile as was the tradition to visit the temple 3 times a year and the yearning is to be there again, could have been post exile and the auther is yearning to be near the temple again. Most attrbute this one as another of David psalms early in his leadership when he was in exile,

companion to Psalms 42:1-4

Psalm 42:1–4 NIV

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

God’s Dwelling - The Temple

Swifts still inhabit the area and make their nests in the evees of the buildings - they sing with God’s worshippers - (first thing I noticed about this place was the ceiling trussels. - dreams of worship

Priests - prepare, sing, hear the word

Technically a pilgrimage psalm but not with the psalms of assent in the later palsms

Pilgrims - Hope sustains them at every step

The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Psalm 84)

the pilgrim declared the blessedness of a believer who in faith journeys to the temple to pray to the Lord.

In good times and bad

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Baca, Valley of (Place)

The “valley of Baca” (Ps 84:1—Eng 84:6) is either a historical place name or a symbolical expression for “deep sorrow.”

Own longing breaks out into prayer

Nations welfare was bound with the King - david prayer for Saul

Fleeting and distant contact with God is satisfying. The sun bathing us in light or the shield protecting us from evil.

Bless are all that put their trust in him

I love this imagery of someone standing at the door, getting a glimps ever time they open it.

We are to be the open door at newstead

overview and image of the temple

Bible project video

Delight is Eden

Because we want to rule things ourselves we choose not to stay in the dwelling place of God.

Jesus claimed that he was the temple, and his presence would be in each of us through the holy spirit.

apprentices of jesus no problem applying psalm 84 into our context. As this temple the new testement tells us is the universal church -

Ephesians 2:21 NIV

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

and the local church,

1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

2 Corinthians 6:16 NIV

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

So the temple courts are now wherever we gather in the name of Jesus and see jesus acts of Love, kindness and grace

God does not dwell in temples made with hands Acts 7:48

Acts 7:48–49 NIV

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?

The final fulfillment of the temple idea would appear to be Jesus rule in the new Jerusalem.

Again imagery in revelation shares a picture of heaven coming down in the form of a new city - one with no temple

Revelation 21:3 NIV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 21:22 NIV

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

In this way, Apprentices to Jesus know in their own experience the psalmist longing for the temple of God. We thirst for God, and our Christian hope sustains us on our weary pilrimage to dwell fully with God.

The message verison picks up on this psalm 84:5-7

And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn—Zion! God in full view!

the last turn - Zion! God in full view!

Tent life and then we will be home with Jesus

While on earth we yearn as we are not able to hold our eyes on Jesus for full view, yet our hearts true desire, our hope is to be in that place more often - into eternity

The message again puts it this way for us modern readers

One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.

We have moments of being the doorkeeper or a day, I had one preparing for today last sunday. As I meditated on this concept and listened to some music on the topic I felt that delight.

First Love - Kari Jobe

I feel my heart beating out of my chest

I wanna stay forever like this

May the flame of my heart always be lit

I wanna burn forever like this

You’re still my first love

To Close

This is why this psalm, when i meditation on it brings such feelings of sadness and delight

We live with the glimpses at the door and a day here and there until Jesus calls us in to be present for eternity.

Henry Francis Lyte skillfully combines the double New testament application of the temple theme to Christian worship and to heaven.

Pleaseant are your courts above,

In the land of light and love;

Pleasant are your courts below,

In this land of sin and woe.

Oh! my spirit longs and faints

For the converse of your saints,

For the brightness of your face,

For your fulness, God of grace.

Prayer