#DailyDevotion Yearning for the House Of The LORD
Psalm 84 How lovely is the place where You live, LORD of armies! 2I yearn, yes, I’m wearing out with longing for the courts of the LORD. My heart and my body shout happily to the living God. 3Even a bird finds a home and a swallow a nest for herself, where she can hatch her young at Your altars, O Lord of armies, my King and my God. 4Happy are those who live at Your house, always praising You. (Music)
This was a song by the sons of Korah. They were priests in the Temple. So it may not seem all that strange they sing about how lovely it is to be in the place where the LORD lives, where He has put His name. But you know, sometimes even pastors don’t want to go to church on Sunday. He may be in conflict with some of the members. Maybe he is just tired and would rather sleep in. Maybe you feel the same way sometimes. We need the Spirit Himself to move us to be in that place where God feeds us with His word and seals us with His sacraments.
Usually, once we get started singing, participating in the liturgy and focus on what God is doing there our hearts, minds and spirits are lifted up and we can again see how lovely is the place the LORD Jesus Christ has put His name. I believe we generally all long for Sunday morning because there we can get some respite from the world with all its trials and tribulations. Maybe when we are younger and want to do things we shouldn’t be doing we get tired of it. Who wants to be told to repent and find a way of fun that is not abhorrent to Him? Thankfully, He calls us to repentance and leads us to desire to be in His presence. We may even begin to be like the psalmist who yearns and wears thin longing for the LORD’s house.
He notes how even birds make their home at the altars of the LORD. I sometimes wonder about the groundhog that burrows under the Church, the vultures that take rest on the roof of the Church, are they taking refuge in the LORD their God? Shouldn’t we thinking beings do better than them?
The psalmist then invokes three names of God: LORD of hosts (sabbaoth we sing in the sanctus), King (malach), and God (elohim). Is he invoking the Trinity? Jesus is certainly our King as our Messiah. Happy, blessed are those who live at His house and are always praising Him. Are we in a funk? Not feeling particularly happy or blessed? Let us return to the house of our God. Let us join together in psalms, hymns and songs which praise the LORD. Sometimes we just need to recount how good God has been toward us. Has He sacrificed His Son so we may have the forgiveness of sins? Did He provide men to distribute that forgiveness through word and sacrament? Do we have food and clothing for the day? If things aren’t going particularly well now, we can recall when things were better, thank God for those days and ask Him to be with us in this day of trouble.
Instead of keeping ourselves from our fellows in the LORD’s house, let us gather together with them. We can praise God for all He has done for those around us. We probably need to spend more time in prayer, praise and thanksgiving with our fellow Christians. In doing this, then we will love living at the LORD’s house and be blessed by Him through our fellows. Praising the LORD of hosts, our King and our God, will lighten our hearts, minds and spirits and bless us with a joyful and blessed disposition which in turn will lift up those around us.
Heavenly Father, we give You thanks and praise for providing us a place where You put the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, that we in that place with all Your saints may know Your presence through word and sacrament. Through our participation in these things, may our hearts learn to yearn and long for Your presence all the more and may we be blessed by it, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our LORD, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit. Amen.