Psalm 84

Psalm 84 (New International Version)

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. ^a]">[a]

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
O 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,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Selah

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools. ^b]">[b]

⁷ They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah

⁹ Look upon our shield, ^c]">[c] O God;
look with favor 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 favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.

¹² O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.

The choir will be presenting a song based on Psalm 84 next week. Listen out for the lyrics and the tune. Personally, it really touches my heart and brings out the yearning in my heart for heaven, where God promises no more tears and suffering, and the enjoyment of His presence forevermore.

And since this was so, I read up a little on the Psalm. I hope I can explain a bit of it to you guys and let you guys appreciate the Book of Psalms in the Bible... which is really the outpouring of praises and prayers to God from the David and other Israelites.

The psalmist was somewhere else and could not come to God in His temple to worship Him. To the Israelites, it was very important to do so and to someone who LOVED God, it would have been very sad for him and he yearned to be in God's presence. (v 1-4)

In v5-8, the psalmist turns his focus on those who were on pilgrimage worship God. The Valley of Baca was a dry and arid place and was also known as the Valley of Weeping, because it was such a hard and tough road to travel. But the tears of these pilgrims turned it into a place of spring and God blessed them with autumn rain. And finally, they see the God of their soul's yearning face to face-- what a comfort!

v10 is indeed what all of us should feel towards the world-- it is infinitely better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the LORD for a day than to be a thousand anywhere else in the tents of the wicked.

Christians walk the small and narrow way, and often it brings about many pain and suffering. Not just human suffering, but also spiritual mourning for those around us who don't love God and refuse His grace. But this psalm encourages us that God will turn our mourning into dancing; night into day!

My question for you is, do you yearn for the courts of the LORD? Do you echo the pslamist in v10, that it is better to be in the house of the LORD? Do you love God so much and long for His appearing, while hating evil?

I remember you all told me whenever we taught on sufferings that you are still young and haven't been through much. Well, now you are at least a year older. And I believe you are beginning to mature and see the world for what it really is. Let's place our hope in our LORD Almighty. His ways are perfect and His road may be tougher and more painful; but we have an eternity of joy ahead of us. Just us Jesus fixed his eyes on the cross and endured its shame for the joy set before Him, let us also run this race with perseverance and throw away all sin that hinders us!

My prayer for you, and myself, is that we may have this desire for God and love Him so much that we realise nothing is more important and precious to us than God Himself; not His miracles, not His provisions, but in God Himself.

As John Calvin puts it: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.Do you enjoy God?

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Anyway, good job at the Bible Quiz today. Hope you all learned much from it, just like I did. (We need to upgrade our level from pr sch... :P)

Okay kiddos, have a good week in school! Remember to come before God daily and seek Him!

- debra laoshi

I leave you with a beautiful youtube video:

Chinese version

the link is HERE!