The Excitement Of Fellowship In His Presence! (Psalm 84) Series

MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE

Sermons Based on Selected Psalms

Psalms Sermon XI – Psalm 84

David the shepherd lad who became King of Israel was a music maker. He played a harp – the most popular instrument in Old Testament times. The Book of Psalms is a collection of his compositions inspired by both his life experiences and his majestic moments with the Lord God.

As a sheep herder, the boy David became fascinated with the wonders of the out of doors even as he became familiar with the uniqueness of sheep.

As the one chosen by Samuel to be crowned the next king of Israel, David had no choice but to sharpen his defensive battle skills when Saul threatened his life; he had demonstrated his skills as a shepherd lad when he defended his sheep from the attack of wolves, and when he defended his family by killing their enemy Goliath with one stone fired by his slingshot.

David’s favor with God and the people worsened King Saul’s insanity, making him so blindly jealous that he made David the target of a relentless campaign to destroy the king-to-be.

David won the battle; but, more importantly, he won the hearts of the people because he had won the heart of the Lord God who had chosen him.

As king, David ruled righteously in accordance with God’s will; Israel enjoyed the golden years of their history during David’s reign.

Yet, as a man, David sinned; however, as a sinner, he was aware of his need for God’s forgiveness; as a forgiven child of God, he courageously accepted God’s punishment; as one who suffered the consequence of sinning against God, he also accepted the challenge of rebuilding his life for God.

As a Psalmist, David’s innermost thoughts - expressed in the verses of his poetry - have become the greatest collection of spiritual nuggets the world has ever known.

From a lifetime of positive and negative experiences, David has become our hero for making music out of the sharps and flats in life.

Any musician knows that it takes both to make good music. It takes the positives (the sharps) and the negatives (the flats). Arrange them in such a way that they blend into chords, orchestrate the chords into a harmonious melody, and what you get is a work of art that is pleasing to the ear.

Life is like that. The isolated sound of a sharp or the lonesome sound of a flat does nothing for the spirit.

Get it all together in conformity with THE Great Composer’s divine plan for our lives, and what you have is harmonious living that is pleasing not only to God but to others as well.

These devotional messages, based on the Book of Psalms, are intended to draw from David’s orchestration of the sharps and flats in his life to help us make music from the sharps and flats in our own lives. Selah.

Psalm 84 . . .

To be in the presence of a very important person would be a special occasion for most of us. For example, if the president of the United States were to walk into this room, we would most likely consider ourselves fortunate to be in his presence. We would no doubt talk about it for a long time. We would be anxious to tell our family and friends about being in his presence.

In another use of the word presence, most of us enjoy the presence of family members or friends who come to see us. I have noticed from time to time that such is the case with residents of Senior Adult Living facilities.

A son or daughter or niece or nephew shows up, and the one they come to visit perks up with a smile, giving the rest of us the impression that they feel special.

The psalmist spoke more often of the presence of God than he did of any other attribute. Uppermost in the psalmist’s mind was the importance of being in the presence of God in the here and now; but even more importantly he spoke of dwelling in the presence of God forever in the hereafter.

In Psalm 84, the psalmist expresses his feelings of excitement due to the presence of the Lord in his life. He spoke of the Lord’s presence in terms of a dwelling place: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul longs for the courts of the Lord; my heart cries out for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2)

Do you hear the tone of excitement in his voice as the psalmist longs to be in the Lord’s dwelling place – in the Lord’s presence?

Of course, when the psalmist talked about the dwelling place of God, he had reference to the Temple - the building in Jerusalem where God’s presence was supposed to manifest itself in a special way. The Israelites believed that the place at the center of the Temple called the “holy of holies” was the place where God dwelled among His people.