Psalm 84
(Should be a favorite of many as there is an awesome Christian song that is almost verbatim to much of this...but here the true continuation...)
When I was memorizing this, a year and a month ago about, I obviously thought it was the song exactly, but then the verses the song omits are actually some of the great verses in the Psalm...
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!
My soul longs, and even faints
for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
How the psalmest pours out his soul, pining for God's justice, knowing that where God decides what is right and wrong is where the soul finds rest.
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.
I love this analagy. Imagine sinners like sparrows and swallows unable to find true peace but always easily startled and fluttering about with anxious minds, finally coming to find there place of safety far from the enemy's arrows.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
they are ever praising you. --Selah
Blessed is the heart who dwells in the Lord's house, and never has desire to be fevorishly attacked by the whimsical desires of worldly pleasures!
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage:
as they pass through the valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs,
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
I am pondering this last verse to try to unravel the meaning of the whole verse sequence...hmmm...I kind of see the 2nd two lines as being clarification of the first two, as in those who place their strength in God do not look to this world for strength, and free from the anxiety of looking for safety/sustenance here, they turn this dry land into 'a place of springs' or a life giving land, and this last verse what can it mean? The autumn rains are known to give some crops the strength to finish their growth, so perhaps it is saying that this world actual serves to grow those who put trust in God into life-giving reservoirs, fully develeoped, not lacking anything...
They go from strength to strength
till each appears before God in Zion.
This suggests my above clarification...that they continue from strength to strength until they are taken from this world.
Hear my prayer, O Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob,
look upon our shield, O God,
look with favor on your annointed one.
An interesting insert into the course of this psalm. An urgent plea that the Lord of Hosts listen to his prayer, not because of himself but because of his shield, Jesus.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere.
I think of the anxiety I have had as a youth of going before a judge for certain speeding tickets. Just to help remind people that the psalmest is requesting to be thrown before the judge than be outside the courtroom, playing or sunbathing or whatever. But the psalmest says, this world and everyone in it can be whatever they want, but as for me and my heart, our soul desire is for your justice and your mercy, your clensing and your forgiving. And if found guilty in that court, than nowhere else will satisfy, so I'll sit here and listen and pray...
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
A continuation of the last thought, even if the psalmest is unable to enter the house of his God, he would rather stand there and open the door so that others can come in to see God--than be accepted into the house of the wicked.
Perhaps, to use other psalm lingo, he is saying even if the Lord hides his face from me, I would rather stand here unable to see him, yet seeking him, then become lost in the pleasures of this world.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield,
the Lord bestows favor and honor,
A sun--He gives light, and shows the way.
A shield--protects from darkness and being led astray.
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
The basis of faith that there is NOTHING GOOD FOR YOU that the ALMIGHTLY, ALL-Knowing God would not give to you, on just that one premise that your wals is blameless--meaning that you actually desire and seek only what is good.
O Lord Almighty,
Blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Another personal confession post, I have problems with trusting God in my life a lot of the time.
I don't know how to spread the world to a lot of people that seem to think of Jesus like a character in a movie or book. It bewilders me.
I know what it means to have faith in God, and yet I find myself struggling with how to deal with myself and others sometimes.
And yet, none of this matters, but that I turn it over to God and trust that He is Almighty and KNOWS and I am not almight and I usually do not know what is going on...