Psalm 84 - Life is a Highway
- Chad Werkhoven
- 21 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Where is the "highway of your heart" taking you?
Psalm 84 (NASB95)
For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 How lovely are Your dwelling places,
O LORD of hosts!
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.
3 The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You.
Selah.
5 How blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the highways to Zion!
6 Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength,
Every one of them appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob!
Selah.
9 Behold our shield, O God,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts,
How blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Belgic Confession
Article 27: The Holy Catholic Church
We believe and confess
one single catholic or universal church—
a holy congregation and gathering
of true Christian believers,
awaiting their entire salvation in Jesus Christ
being washed by his blood,
and sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
This church has existed from the beginning of the world
and will last until the end,
as appears from the fact
that Christ is eternal King
who cannot be without subjects.
--
And so this holy church
is not confined,
bound,
or limited to a certain place or certain persons.
But it is spread and dispersed
throughout the entire world,
though still joined and united
in heart and will,
in one and the same Spirit,
by the power of faith.
Summary
There's a good chance that as you read this on the eve of a summer holiday weekend that you've traveled somewhere recently, maybe for just a day or two or maybe longer. While it's good to get away, there's always a longing to be home - the place where things are the way they're supposed to be. Or maybe home for you isn't that way at all, and you have a continual longing for things to be made right; to truly feel at home.
That feeling is deeply woven into our humanity, but not just for a place that's familiar surrounded by things and people we love. Mankind has an intrinsic ache to not just be in our own home, but to be back in the lovely dwelling places of the LORD of hosts, for it's only there that your heart and flesh can sing for joy to the living God.
The Psalmist here gives a nod back to that all important first psalm - the one that set the tone for the rest of the Psalter - describing the blessed man. That blessing - that is, total well being and happiness - comes to those who dwell in the LORD's house. Notice that this blessedness we all long for comes as a result of ever praising the LORD!
Furthermore, that man is blessed whose strength is in the LORD. This is ironic, because sin tempts you to find strength, blessing and happiness in anything but God! Instead, find true blessedness by building highways to Zion - in other words, highways that pass through the valleys of life and spiritually bring you home, for every one who travels these heart-highways appears before God in Zion.
Dig Deeper
As the psalmist continues his prayer for the LORD to look upon the face of His anointed, he gets to what is perhaps Psalm 84's most famous couplet:
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Is what the psalmist sings of here true for you as well? We began our devotion today recognizing that all people are homesick, but most people attempt to satisfy their longing with anything but God. To them, the tents of wickedness look really inviting. Do you long to be in the Lord's house, surrounded by His people, singing His praises and listening to His Word on Sunday? Or are you going to look for some lesser blessedness somewhere else?
The primary storyline of the Bible is charting man's return to the LORD's dwelling place. We were created to live in the midst of it, but we were evicted from it after Adam sinned. For the last six months, we traced Israel's journey through several temporary dwelling places that brought them closer to God, but not quite into the full blessedness we were created to experience.
This is why the Christmas story that we once again read through this past week is so amazing. Zion - God's dwelling place - is no longer at the end of a long highway that we continually veer off. God became Immanuel - now God dwells with us - through the person and work of the second member of the Trinity, our Savior Jesus Christ, and continuing on through the Holy Spirit who continues to dwell within.
While it's certainly true that we're not home yet, the man who trusts in the LORD has already begun to experience the beginning of the blessedness, for no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly - that is, those who continue to walk, strengthened and upheld by God's indwelling Spirit, down the narrow road following Jesus.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD God of hosts, whose dwelling we long to return to;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would walk uprightly, enjoying the foretaste of returning to God's dwelling through the Holy Spirit and through the gathered worship in the Lord's house here on earth;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
