The Soul Longing for Closer Communion With God
Psalm 84
Our proper condition and position in this world is presented to our hearts in this Psalm. Does it not show to us one whose heart is where he is not, and he is where his heart is not, as our hearts are in heaven and we are here. "My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord." What a beautiful picture of the state of the affections of one whose heart is not here!
How much do the attractions of our Father's house have control over our own souls? My Father's house—what an affectionate term! The home of the children. The scene we get in Revelation is not the "Father's house." There we have the twenty-four thrones and the elders, and kings and priests, all blessed and dignified; yet it is not the Father's house; it is another line of things. There is nothing about it to draw out the affections as the Father's house does.
This second verse expresses a deep longing, "My soul ... fainteth." It is a great thing to have our hearts precede us to heaven. That is where our hearts ought to be. "The courts of the Lord" is evidently the place of His presence. We get the same desire in Psalm 63 where in the first verse the Psalmist says "O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is."
The state of this 84th Psalm is very beautiful. In verse 10 the Psalmist asserts that "a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." We have nothing today that answers to a "doorkeeper in the house of my God." It was a Jewish term, and all went with the law. The characteristic of the law was that they stood afar off, while with Christianity the term is "house." In John 13 we get the Lord Jesus taking a place as doorkeeper; that is, the doorkeeper would meet you at the door with water to wash the feet. So we get Him in this place.
As to the desire for the coming of the Lord, would His coming be the satisfying of a desire as we have here in this Psalm, or simply relief from distress? Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. We are under the flail to keep our hearts out of this scene. Glorying in tribulations is to boast in them.
In the third verse the Psalmist speaks of the sparrow and the swallow. What are the sparrow and swallow counted for? Generally speaking, worthless. This is the place the Lord took when He was here—worthless. We need to guard against accepting this world's estimate of worth. We see David in Psalm 73 occupied with the wicked's prosperity, but when he went into the sanctuary of God, then he understood their end. Along a similar line, we read in Job 9:2424The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he? (Job 9:24) that "the earth is given into the hand of the wicked." That is judging it without seeing God's hand in the overall picture.
We read in verse 6 that we are passing through the valley of Baca, a valley of weeping and tears. We are to make of it a well, and God will fill the pools. Rain filling the pools is blessing coming down from above. Wherever you go, you find yourself in the valley of weeping and tears. Everything has the shadow of death upon it. In Revelation 21:44And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. (Revelation 21:4) we get a negative statement about it: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." These all characterize the valley of Baca and time, whereas eternity for the Christian will have none of these characteristics.
The expression, "from strength to strength" or "from post to post" in verse 7 probably refers to their going to the feasts at Jerusalem. Some of them have quite a long distance, but every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. There is not one of God's children who will fall away, but every one of them shall appear in the heavenly Zion before God.
Of what significance is the term "God of Jacob" and "Lord God of hosts" in verse 8? In Psalm 46:7-117The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 8Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 9He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. 10Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. (Psalm 46:7‑11) we read, "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." The Lord is with us and are we not all Jacobs— poor, erring, crooked ones? God is the God of such an one who made such a checkered career. Jacob's history is but the history of our own. God tells Jacob in Genesis 28 what He is going to do for him. And immediately Jacob wants to make a bargain: if God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, when just before, God had promised much more than that. This is something we as saints lay hold of so slowly. It is so difficult to get the legal spirit out of us.
Consider verse 10 as to our gathering together. How little it takes to keep us from the meetings. There ought to be a sense of His presence there. We ought to act on this principle and not be as some of the disciples when they met the Lord in the mountain in Matthew 28:1717And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. (Matthew 28:17): "and when they saw Him they worshipped Him, but some doubted." He was there but unrecognized, and they were not worshippers. There is a danger of saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" as some in Israel did. We ought to say, "Surely the Lord is in this place," and if we have faith, we can enjoy His presence. We ought always to act on this principle. Is not faith in His presence, power? We sometimes hear of a barren meeting. Might not the cause be that we go there to get something instead of to give, especially on Lord's Day morning? We lose so much by being in an unthankful condition. The Lord's Table is a place for thanksgiving. In everything give thanks, It is the meeting as such that is pleasing to the Lord and not the individuals. He may use whom He sees fit. In giving out a hymn, is it because I like it, or is the Lord leading me to give it out? If we have the sense of the Lord's presence, the Spirit will surely guide us.