Psalm 84, Morning Meditation

A Desire for God’s House

1 How beautiful are the places where You live, O Lord of all! 2 My soul wants and even becomes weak from wanting to be in the house of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the bird has found a home. The swallow has found a nest for herself where she may lay her young at Your altars, O Lord of all, my King and my God. 4 How happy are those who live in Your house! They are always giving thanks to You.

5 How happy is the man whose strength is in You and in whose heart are the roads to Zion! 6 As they pass through the dry valley of Baca, they make it a place of good water. The early rain fills the pools with good also. 7 They go from strength to strength. Every one of them stands before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of all, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. 9 Look upon our safe-covering, O God. And look upon the face of Your chosen one. 10 For a day in Your house is better than a thousand outside. I would rather be the one who opens the door of the house of my God, than to live in the tents of the sinful. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and a safe-covering. The Lord gives favour and honour. He holds back nothing good from those who walk in the way that is right. 12 O Lord of all, how happy is the man who trusts in You!

2: It expresses the ambivalence of human life, the joy of knowing God and His creation vs. the longing for eternity, the fullness of God’s presence.
5-7: Who walks through life with longing for God’s eternal presence, brings freshness into the dry monotony of life.
10: It is much better to be “nobody” in God’s presence than “somebody” far away from Him.

The psalm surprises me how it vividly describes the meaning and emotions of pilgrimages. Both those symbolic ones and the pilgrimage of life.