By Protus Seda
Psalm 84 opens with such a beautiful verse, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!” The psalmist speaks longingly of God’s abode. A place where we find an abundance of grace, mercy, love, blessings, strength, hope, peace, joy; and everything our souls yearn for. It’s a beautiful place that our hearts yearn for and that which our flesh cries out for. Balance, calmness, healing, good health, a sense of belonging, family. What are those things your soul faints for in the courts of the Lord?
Probably with envy, the psalmist compares himself with the sparrow and the swallow who have unhindered access to a place near God’s altar (v. 3). In God’s dwelling the birds raise their young ones, oh are they not so blessed! How I would love to be like the birds. Yet in Matt. 6:26, Jesus compares us with the birds of the air, and points out how valuable we are to God more than the birds of the air. Not that God doesn’t love birds, he cares for them, but he cares deeply for me and you and is longing for an intimate relationship with us – because of God’s love for us, we can also nest in his dwelling place through Jesus.
To paraphrase the psalmist’s longing for God in v.10: Would you not rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than in the tent of the wicked? Even for one day? Better is one day in God’s courts than a thousand elsewhere.
Let us pray (v.11-12): O Lord, bestow upon us favor and honor; you who are always ready to grant us good things, open the floodgates of your tender loving care, your abundant grace and blessings upon us, today and the week ahead. Amen.
