Psalm 84 Commentary
One great injustice done to the cause of the Gospel is the picture that it is all about sacrifice. One must forget about the joys of life and take the cross. Shelve the ambitions and live a low and poor life. It is never appealing. What a great lie!
Psalm 84 paints for us a very different picture. And every saint says Amen. The Christian walk brings us into God’s presence. It is beautiful and lovely. You never want to miss it. The Creator God hooked a man’s life there. It is the desire of every man’s heart.
When you have it, you know you have it. You know it is there waiting for you. You may not hold it fully, but you know your hands are locked on this target.
When you don’t have it, you know you don’t have it. You know there is nothing to wait for. It is all darkness and uncertainty. Counterfeits tend to fill this space, but you know they are all fake.
Jesus is the real deal! He is God’s house, the famed Sanctuary or Temple of the LORD. The most important item at the temple was the Ark of the Covenant, housed within the Most Holy Place. The Ark was a small box, only a little more than your microwave oven in your kitchen.
It contained God’s word. Jesus is the Word of the LORD. All other components in the temple’s holy places represented some aspect of Jesus’ ministry. The Lampstand represented Jesus as the Light of this world. Jesus is the bread of life, hence the sacred bread in the holy place!
The psalmist’s longing for God’s dwelling place is actually a deep desire for Jesus! He is all that we have wanted; all that we have needed – the desire of nations!
The mention of the sparrow and the swallow brings us to what the LORD Jesus Christ said concerning the loving-kindness and care of the Creator God. So the picture is complete. Man’s inbuilt desire for the Creator God on the one hand and the Creator’s loving care on the other hand. The saint is glad to have found their way near God’s altar.
Find a saint and look at their lives in a profound way. Do they look sad? Are they joyless, pitiful, low, and out? No. They radiate peace and contentment. It is a special gift the LORD gives us. And they know better is one day in God’s presence than a thousand elsewhere. They don’t need drugs to make them happy.
The LORD supplies their needs from the abundance of His dwelling place. They keep warm and enjoy the favor of the Creator God.
The lie out there is the fake life of wickedness. And they know it. They feel it. They experience emptiness daily. There is no joy. It is slavery. They try to use drugs, but it never works. They try to use technology and virtualize everything happy and great, but it is all in vain. They increase sin upon sin, but their lives worsen.
Why spend so much money on what doesn’t work? The scripture calls the world to come and experience joy and peace. Only the Holy Spirit gives the real stuff. The rest is fake and can only worsen the seeker’s life.
This psalm reminds the saint of the blessedness of the saint’s earthly walk. They shouldn’t wear sad faces because they don’t have fake products. Keep happy with the original and functional product as freely given by the LORD Jesus Christ. “Something good, something beautiful,” that is the definition of the Gospel.
More resources visit https://www.lovingscripture.com
LOVING SCRIPTURE 