Psalm
84 reminds me of a cartoon from my childhood, called Chilly Willy.
The basic story was that this tiny penguin in the North Pole was
always cold and scheming to trying to get to a warm place. This
psalm focuses on being near to God. Apparently the writer has
experienced the shiver of being far from God’s warmth and wants
nothing more than to be in His presence. He begins, “How
lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!“.
He describes the Temple in Jerusalem, which was, of course, the
place where God gave His people a physical manifestation to show His
approval. “Fire
came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the
sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple”
(2 Chronicles 7:1). Remember God led His people out of Egypt with “A
pillar
of cloud… by night in a pillar of fire to give them light”
(Exodus 13:21). God is spirit, but He often gives us evidence of His
closeness. The Natural gas used to heat our homes has no smell, but
to help us to easily detect a gas leak, a pungent odor is added. In
much the same way, God gave the people a visual demonstration of His
presence. The psalm continues, “My
soul yearns… my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God“.
He is jealous of the sparrow because he sees their nest, “near
Your altar, O Lord“.
Only the priests and Levites were allowed to enter the temple, and
like a child with his face pushed up against the storefront window,
he writes, “Blessed
are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You“.
Do you feel like you are on the outside, looking in?
Next
the writer talks about the journey people take to find God. “Blessed
are those
whose
strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage“.
This kind of trip requires a purposeful decision. Pilgrims have a
destination in mind before they begin. He notes, “As
they pass through the
Valley
of Baca,
they
make it a place of springs“.
This place does not appear on any map. I believe it is the place of
barren loneliness; the place that clarifies in our own individual
heart that we need to draw near to God. This place of decision
becomes for us a place of refreshing. He quickly adds, “They
go
from
strength to strength“.
What a contrast to the downward cycle of sin! Deception leads to
more deception and one lie leads to two. The exact opposite happens
when we read God’s Word. One truth leads to another and our
confidence in God is reaffirmed. To avoid any confusion about our
ability to earn access to God on our own, he prays, “Hear
my prayer, O Lord… Look upon our shield… look with favor on
Your
Anointed One“.
The Jews were clear that full access to God, required a Messiah.
Jesus said without hesitation, “I
am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me”
(John 14:6). Are you ready to leave that barren place behind?
As
the psalm ends, the writer compares intimacy with God to the life out
in the cold cruel world. “Better
is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere“.
Some of us know those frosty days elsewhere.
He adds, “I
would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell
in the tents of the wicked“.
We get the sense that the writer has been in the tents of the
wicked. Here is the horrifying truth, God’s standards require
perfection
and everything else is wickedness. Every one of us has fallen short
of that. The psalmist tells us, “The
Lord God is a sun and shield… no good thing does He withhold from
those whose walk is blameless“.
Friend, that is an impossibility for any of us. Revelation 5
describes this moment of recognition as the apostle John writes, “I
wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy“.
So are we doomed to keep sliding back out onto the ice? No,
instead, John looked up to see “ten
thousand times ten thousand angels singing”
praise to Jesus because He alone is worthy! “You
are worthy… because You were slain, and with Your blood You
purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and
nation“.
And this is why the psalmist can conclude with joy, “Blessed
is the man who trusts in You“.
Our little penguin friend used trickery, bribes, force and charm to
get to warmth, but every attempt was temporary. In Revelation 3:20,
Jesus says “Here
I am! I stand at the door and knock“.
Will you let Him in to your heart? All you have to do is ask.