Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 84

 

! Introduction

When I was in school I worked on construction in the summer months.

I remember well how much I looked forward to supper.

After a hard day of work, I had worked up a pretty good appetite and my mother had good food ready and I was hungry for supper.

Early during the time when Carla and I were dating, she was in school and I was in university.

We would see each other at choir practice at youth and at church and some other times during the week.

There were never too many times for us to see each other.

I remember how much I looked forward to the times when we would be together.

I had a longing to see her and it was a joy to have that longing fulfilled.

We hunger for those things which bring blessing into our lives.

God brings huge blessing into our life.

Do we long for Him?

Which of the following statements are you comfortable with?

I’m saved and my life is mine to do with as I please, OR I have to do everything right or I will be in trouble with God, OR God is pretty cool and I am trying to balance my life between God’s things and my things, OR I love Jesus and am trying to live my whole life with Him at the center.

Psalm 84 expresses longing for God and declares the blessing which comes when we are on a journey of living in Him.

As we read and think about this text, I would invite you to think about what kind of longing you have for God and whether that is where you really want to be in your life.

Read Psalm 84.

The imagery in the text is that of pilgrimage to the temple.

In the Old Testament times God’s people did not have the same privilege of access to God that we have since Jesus came.

The work of Christ and the path He has opened into the presence of God is something very special and we need to understand that it was not always like that.

At that time the place where the people were able to meet God was in the temple.

God gave them a promise that they could always come and meet Him there.

Several times a year they would go to Jerusalem in order to participate in festivals and to worship God.

The Psalm is written from the perspective of a person traveling some distance in order to go to the temple in Jerusalem and worship God and likely participate in one of the festivals.

Yet in spite of that specific context, the longing for God expressed here and the blessings described fit very well not only with pilgrimage towards God physically, but also spiritually.

!

I.

Those Who Trust In God

!! A.                 Longing

As the pilgrims walked towards Jerusalem, they longed to be in the temple, but even these Jewish pilgrims were not so much interested in the physical temple, but above all rejoiced to be near God.

Do we have such a longing?

Although in verse 1 the writer describes the loveliness of the dwelling place of God and that his yearning is for the courts of the Lord, we see very quickly that it is really God Himself he longs for.

In verse 2 the writer says that his longing is “for the living God.”

The powerful address he makes of God in verse 3 when he says, “O Lord Almighty, my King and my God” lets us know that he really wants to know God and be near to God.

The subject of the longing appears at first to be the buildings, but the direction of the longing is very clearly God Himself.

It is good for us to enjoy church and all that we experience here, but the object of the Psalmists affection, being God, invites us to also examine our desires.

Is it God whom we desire?

Is He the object of our affection?

This question is reinforced when we notice the intensity of his longing.

In August, my son and his two sons and I went on a canoe trip.

The two little guys were quite excited about this trip and several days before we left, they already had their bags packed.

They could hardly wait for this great event and the intensity of their longing showed in the way they prepared.

The Psalmist expresses the intensity of his longing for God when he says, “My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

The longing he has for God is deep.

It goes to the depth of his soul.

His heart and in fact his whole physical body are impacted with this longing and desire.

Excitement over something we are looking forward to has an impact on our soul, our heart and even our body.

At times like that we can’t sleep, we have butterflies and our mind is thinking about what we are longing for.

Are these feelings ever present in us because of our desire to meet with God?

Other expressions of the intensity of his longing are described in the envy he has regarding those who are always in the temple.

He talks about the birds, specifically the sparrows and the swallows, which have made a home in the temple area.

He envies them because they have found a place near to the presence of God and always are able to live in the presence of God.

Then in verse 4 he expresses envy over those who are able to work in the temple all the time.

He has such a longing for God’s presence that he wishes he did not just have the opportunity to go there once or twice a year, but be there all the time.

We all have places we like to be.

Those of you who asked me what I did this summer probably heard me talk about the Lyric Theatre at Assiniboine Park and the joy I had at being able to spend several wonderful summer evenings there listening to music.

Some of you have enjoyed being at CanadInns Stadium or the MTS center for football or hockey games respectively.

Some of us have a favorite place for vacation and some people like nothing better than to be at home.

The Psalmist expresses that the place he likes to be more than anywhere else is near to God in His temple.

In verse 10 he states that even one day in the presence of God is better than a thousand days anywhere else.

That is a powerful description of a favorite place to be.

He also describes that he would rather take a lowly job in the temple serving God than living in the tents of people who are wicked.

The place of righteousness, of the presence of God with its purity and goodness is something far better than any other place.

That is his favorite place.

What powerful expressions of longing the Psalmist writes about - the longing for God, to be near God, to spend time in the presence of God and to be close to the righteousness and goodness of God’s presence.

These expressions invite us to examine our desires as well.

Is this your heart?

Perhaps your answer is “I wish” or perhaps, “yes, completely” or perhaps, “yes, partly” or perhaps “not really at all.”

What is the state of your longing?

Do you desire the presence of God more than anything else?

Do you have a deep inner longing for God? Do you wish you did, but admit that you don’t completely?

If we do not have such a longing why not?

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of the soils.

In that parable he talks about the heart of people who respond to God.

There are those, like the seed sown on the path, whose hearts are hard and unresponsive.

Then there are those whose hearts have no depth to them.

They are like the seeds planted on the shallow soil over rocks who manifest an early longing for God, but don’t follow through.

Then there are those who, like the seeds planted among the weeds, are so distracted by the things of the world that they do not grow in their longing for God.

Finally the parable describes the seeds planted in the good soil which produce a great harvest.

I wish I was the good soil, but I know that I am not always.

I know that my longing for God is sometimes strong and sometimes not so strong, but I wish it was always strong.

I have a growing longing to know God more and to live in a constant awareness of His presence with me.

!! B.                 Pilgrimage

“I wish” is a true perspective and I am sure that most of us have not arrived at completion in having an intense longing for God.

Although the Psalm describes intense longing for God it is also a Psalm about pilgrimage.

In verse 5 we read, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.”

The Psalm is about people on the way.

Not only on the way to Jerusalem physically, but spiritually on their way to God.

The physical journey to the temple for the Jews who went there for the festivals or to worship may have been long.

Some lived as close as Bethlehem which involved a walk that would only take a portion of the day, but others lived much further away.

Some lived on the other side of the Jordan or in the northern part of the country around the Sea of Galilee.

The journey may also have been difficult.

Some of the places where they travelled would have been through dry rugged valleys.

The elevation changes around that country are significant and would have added to the difficulty of the journey.

Yet in spite of the difficulties of the journey, they were on their way to the temple to meet with God.

In a similar way, we are also on a journey to God.

This Psalm is not about people who have arrived.

We read about the intense longing for God and we have to admit that it does not always describe us.

But we need to realize that we are also on a journey.

Sometimes the journey goes through difficult places and sometimes through dry, wilderness places.