Today's Meditation - Friday, June 12, 2020

Today's Meditation

Read Psalm 84

¹How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

²My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.

⁴Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. 

Selah

⁵Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

⁶As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.

⁷They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

⁸O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! 

Selah

⁹Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.

¹⁰For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.

¹²O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Singing the Psalms 

In Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus he encouraged the believers to "be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

There is a history of singing the psalms in our church history from the beginning of the early Christian movement.  Not all of the psalms lend themselves to a comforting tune, but this one is part of the great collection of psalmody that was used.  Almost every line is notable, but here are some of my own thoughts about a couple of lines.

"How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!" - We all have images of heaven - the wonder and awe of such a place.  But God also dwells in our world, in the beauty of creation, the magnificence of the mountains, the expanse and mystery of the seas, the openness of the plains and deserts, and the whispering of the forests.  "Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at Your altars."  

And God also dwells in each of us, the uniqueness of every human being.  The gift of life that is part of the human story going back to the first humans - Adam and Eve - stretching out for generations yet to come, every life worthy of God's own sacrifice.

"O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!"

God listens to the prayers, and cries, and desires of God's own people.  Whatever is laying heavy upon your heart, whether it is joy, sorrow, concern, worry; we know that we can bring it to God in prayer.

May you lift up your prayers to the Lord this day and know that God hears them.

Better Is One Day In Your Courts