The Longing Of The Heart And Soul For God Alone: Message - Psalm 84 – The Sons Of Korah Series

THE LONGING OF THE HEART AND SOUL FOR GOD ALONE

MESSAGE - PSALM 84 – THE SONS OF KORAH

Psalm 84:0 For the choir director - on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah

PSALM 84 V 1 “How lovely are Your dwelling places, O LORD of hosts! Psa 84:2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”

Have you ever had a desire that is so strong you can’t get it out of your mind? You count down the days and then the hours. It is something special you are looking forward to. Maybe you are 50 and have never been on a plane for Europe, or on a special voyage. Then the time of departure arrives and you are so excited that you look around and take everything in and then you feel part of the whole adventure. Well that is like the experience of this son of Korah, only that he was not going on a plane trip or a voyage. He was going to enter the Tabernacle, to the outer courts. The tabernacle was God’s dwelling place among men, His people Israel, and when the psalmist went there, he was entering the presence of God.

He describes all this with words of joyousness for his whole being was delighting in God. This is a psalm of praise from a man who loved God’s presence on earth and now enjoys the very presence of God in heaven. Let us look at the words he uses – In verse 1, the word “lovely”, to begin with. God’s dwelling places are lovely; that is, where God is, is lovely. For the Jew it meant being in the Tabernacle, and as the Korahites, that part of the tribe of Levi, were the music organisers and directors of music for the praises of the Lord in all the Tabernacle worship, then they had such an experience of God’s presence in that service.

For the Christian, God’s dwelling places are not on earth but in heaven for Christians are a heavenly people. Drawing near to God is not drawing near to some earthly structure, but drawing near to the very presence of God who is with us and in heaven as well. Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst. To be in “God’s presence” is to enjoy His presence with us for He is with every one of His saints. We have the Holy Spirit who is God with us. The Lord Jesus Christ abides with us forever, because he comes to sup with us and is with us forever.

It is wrong to speak of our Christian gatherings as “being in the house of God” or “The House of the Lord”, or naming a place a tabernacle such as the Baptist Tabernacle in Brisbane. It is wrong to speak of a temple as some Christian groups have a Temple as their name. The Roman Catholics from olden times named their buildings after a saint or some distinguished Apostle thinking this gave the building some special holiness and extra God-presence. All meeting places for church gatherings, whether they are in halls, or churches or buildings are just merely constructions and are not places where God dwells. God dwells with His people and where they are He is there also, but God does not operate in the way it happened in the Old Testament days. The expression such as “Welcome to the house of the Lord” is also not correct. Let no emphasis or special significance be placed on the meeting place/building.

In verse 2, the psalmist longed for the courts of the Lord. “For the courts of the Lord” - The word used here refers to the different areas around the tabernacle and later, the temple, within which many of the services of public worship were conducted, and which were frequented by different classes of persons. Only the priests could enter inside the veil of the tabernacle.

Verse 2 ends with, “My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.” The writer echoes what is a godly response to the Lord from those who know Him. Sadly this is not always the case with so many Christians in our days because of busyness and secularism and worldly-ism. What priority does God have in a person’s life? If that is the top priority then the heart and flesh sings for joy to God, otherwise you come to meetings with no real desire or purpose. Revelation chapters 4 and 5 touch on the joyful praise in heaven in a coming day and there, the emphasis is on the Lamb, not on egocentric self. We must make sure that we don’t neglect the hymns of joy here on earth. We must sing joyful melodies to the Lord, ones that exalt our Saviour, and the best way to do that is to be saturated with the bible. Be immersed in God’s word, for the word leads to praise and worship. I think a study of Psalm 119 brings that out. We won’t get inspiration and joy that rise up in us by sitting in some church building, but we will by spending time in the courts of heaven (in God’s presence with His word).