Stand & Read – Psalm 84:1-12
“How lovely are Thy 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 thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God. [4] How blessed are those who dwell in Thy house! They are ever praising Thee. Selah. [5] How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; 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 Thine anointed. [10] For a day in Thy 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 Thee!”
“Righteous Heart-Ache”
Prayer…
Have you ever had heartache? Have you ever longed and hungered for something?
Our old hearts long for many a thing in this world….
We want money…
Cars…
Homes…
Material Things…
The right Job…
This & That…
And all for naught…
EMBELLISH THIS…
However, the heart still aches and aches…searching for something that would satisfy the void that we feel within…oh how un-quenchable it is…!
When the real problem is, is that we are avoiding the truth of the Word in our Lives…For God tells us in His Word what our hearts should ache for…when He said…”But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33
Let me ask you this…
Why are you wandering and searching where you should not be wandering and searching?
You know that you are seeking out things of YOUR own choosing and will, rather than what the Lord would have for you…
Then you…
-You wonder why you have no peace, when you should have it in Jesus Christ…
-You wonder why you haven’t been blessed, when He is a God of Blessing…
-You wonder why you feel as though God has forgotten you, when He says that He is a friend that sticks closer than any brother…
-Could it be that you have taken things into your own hands…?????
May I suggest to you today that maybe you have forgotten to heed a simple requirement, which God has instructed us to follow…
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” - Matthew 6:33
OUR FIRST PRIORITY IN LIFE is this…
“To seek FIRST the Kingdom of God & His Righteousness…”
Just what is your priority young man…?
What is it that you desire dear woman…?
What is you heart desirous of young lady…?
Sir, where is your heart this morning…?
May I suggest to you this…
According to the scripture of Matthew 6:33…
We are urged, as followers of Christ Jesus, to seek above all other things…GOD’S KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
àTo seek, here in this passage, suggests that we would be continually absorbed in a search for something, or to make a strenuous and diligent effort to obtain something…
And that “something” is this…”His Kingdom” & “His Righteousness”!!!
1) His Kingdom…We must earnestly be seeking to have God’s Rule & Power demonstrated in our lives…”Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done…”…Don’t pray that in vain…L
We also can seek that God’s Kingdom would come in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit to save sinners…heal the sick…destroy the devils work…and to magnify the Name of Jesus…
2) His Righteousness…With the help of the Holy Spirit, we must seek to obey the commands of Christ!!! To possess the Righteousness of Christ, and to remain separated from the world.
Thus, needing to show the Love of Christ to a dying world…and being aptly capable to do so because of the previous being evident in our lives…
Remember…Matthew 5:16 - “Letting that light so shine before men, that when they see your good works…they in turn will want to glorify the Father in Heaven…”!
Then Church, as we concern ourselves with these first and most important things, as ordered by our Savior Jesus Christ, then He will fulfill the second half of this powerful verse…
“Then all these things will be added unto you (as well - NIV)…” - Matthew 6:33b
In this portion of Scripture, Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus is instructing about worry…NOT WORRYING about the things of this world. For if His eye is on the sparrow, and the grass and flowers of the field do not toil or labor, yet they are taken well care of…then how much more will YOUR Heavenly Father take care of you and meet your needs???
This is how the equation works…when you concern yourself with Kingdom issues…plus, you trust the Lord for all of your needs…then God will concern himself with you and your needs, and they will be supplied to you!!! Both, your spiritual AND temporal needs will be supplied!!!
BUT, your first priority and concerns are this…that you SEKK THE KINGDOM OF GOD & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
This is what your heart must ache and long for…GOD!!!
These old hearts long for all things that are common to man though…this is our problem…
ILLUSTRATION:
Like when we move away from home for the first time.
Our hearts ache and long for our old bedroom, mom’s cooking, our old friends, the family we couldn’t wait to get away from…and the familiar things we couldn’t stand to begin with J.
But like many things…when we remove something from our lives…we usually have a replacement for the void pretty fast…
However, for most of us, we have to extract something from our lives so that we may, once again, get things in order with HIM!!!
We have heard it said before…”Home is where the heart is” so where is your heart today…?
Is it set on things above? Or on the things of this earth?
1 John 2:15
“Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
May your heart be set on things above…and your thoughts on things above!!!
The Psalmist’s heart was set on things above..and he set the tone for this thought of having “Righteous Heart Ache” in Psalm 84…
From this Psalm we can read of the heart that longed for God…and ached to be in the House of the Lord.
For either one of two problems had occurred…
1) It is quite possible that this person writing this psalm was barred from having access to God’s House…
2) Or…possibly when the Temple was in ruins, was when this was written…
Regardless, there was a longing, unquenchable desire to be in the Presence of God…oh that we would desire once again, like this dear soul…
POINT ONE: THE DEEP LONGING
From verses 1 – 4, we can read of the Deep Longing of the writer’s heart for the House of the Lord…
For he says…”My soul yearns, and even FAINTS” for the courts of the Lord, “my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God”. His whole being became consumed with being in the presence of the Lord….
C. S. Lewis called this desire, quite accurately, an “appetite for God” rather than a “love for God”. For the word…love suggests a “Spiritual” connotation… However…appetite suggests a cheerful spontaneity of a natural, and even physical, desire for God and His presence…
As the Psalmist remembered back to the past blessing of being in the Lord’s Presence…he recollected the sweet time of fellowship with the Lord.
How the Presence brought refreshment, and satisfied the soul…Oh how it does, Amen Church!!!
For he even envies the common birds that have had the privilege to make their nest in the temple, and are found in the house of God…
For such a lowly animal to be found in such a glorious place brings the Psalmist to Praise and Glorify God! For if these birds are so blessed as to just abide around and in the temple…how much more blessed are those who actually serve the Lord in His Temple!?!?!
How much more blessed are you church for being permitted to come into the House of the Lord to worship, serve, and receive from the Lord???
Have you ever considered the blessing you have in your life…?
Have you taken the time to consider the blessedness of being counted among those who can enter into the Holy of Holies now…?
Like the Psalmist who was driven to give attention and Praise to the Lord for the very thought…so should you and I be driven to worship, gratefulness, and adoration for the Mighty God, the Lord Almighty for His abundant blessing in your life!!!
The Psalmist develops a theme of blessedness here as he focuses on two things…
1) The blessedness of those who experience the Kingship of the Lord Almighty…
2) And those who’s longing for the Lord brings about an experience of the strength and life of God…
Can you feel the emotion and desperate desire for God in this passage?
Do you understand how we are to have a deep longing to be in the House of God, and to abide near Him?
To further confirm this, in a Psalm like unto this one…Psalm 42:1-4 -
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. [2] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? [3] My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, Where is your God?" [4] These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.”
Do you see the heart of one who truly has an appetite for God?
Can you see yourself in this picture today…as one who has a deep longing and a growing appetite for the True & Living God…?
For just as water is an essential for the physical life and wholeness…so too is God and His Presence necessary for the Spiritual Life to have and maintain wholeness and satisfaction. This is why He is likened unto water…
After all, true believers will hunger and thirst for God. For the grace, blessings, and supernatural activity in their lives…this will truly happen in true believers…J
Here is one thing that we know…
To stop thirsting for water is to die physically…and the correlation is the same in the spirit…
Thus…we must never allow for anything to take away from our desire to partake of the Lord…and to weaken our intense desire for the things of God.
Again…remember Mt. 6:33—seek FIRST the Kingdom and God, for things of this earth will attempt to take you away from God. For they will choke out your hunger and thirst for the things of God…and the Righteous Heart-Ache will dwindle away…just like the home-sickness you endured and it eventually went away…because you didn’t give into it.
Therefore…we must pray that our longing for God’ Presence might be strengthened and grow in desperate desire! For if we ignore it…it will soon fad and so will our relationship with the Lord.
And we must never deny our spirit of it’s longings for more of the Lord. Just as we don’t often deny our physical appetites, but indulge it…we must fill it’s longing.
The Psalmist mentioned that voice of Joy in the 42nd Psalm…which leads us to…
POINT TWO: THE JOYFULL BLESSEDNESS
There is a righteous envy here, which the Psalmist holds within his heart…towards those who are able and free to make a pilgrimage to Zion…those who are able to go to the Presence of the Lord and be in His Temple!!!
For his desire is to find the joyful blessedness of being in the presence of the Lord.
This is why the writer of Psalm 122:1 could say with conviction…”I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord."
For it is in HIS presence and House that you will find true blessedness, peace, joy, and liberation from the cares of this world…for it is truly an oasis.
Likewise, this writer concurs when he wrote… Psalm 84:5-7 – “How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; 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.”
Our source of Joy is in the Well of the Springs of Living Water…from the place where the waters flow from the altars…out through the doors of the house of God…and into the streets as Ezekiel saw them…but we have to return to the source…THE ALTARS…a place of change…a place of Prayer!
Be found in the presence of God for in it comes a joyful blessedness, which blesses you, and builds you into the man or woman of God that He desires for you to be as you continue to believe in Him!
And yes…the Presence of God can be experienced outside of the Courts of God’s Temple, however…the psalmist is talking of those who have put their confidence in the Lord. Who trust in him for refuge in times of need…
In their Valleys of Baca, a place common in arid valleys, a name which means “weeping” or “balsam trees”…even in the midst of the sad, low, barren and dry places…they find God to meet their needs with blessings and even in abundance…
The object of this whole quest towards God is to have communion with Him…to gain “strength to strength”, and to “grow with ever-increasing glory”…literally, “from glory to glory” as in II Cor. 3:18.
Which tells us that as we experience the closeness of Christ’s love, righteousness, and power through prayer..it will result in us being transformed more and more into HIS likeness…a progression towards that one day when we will be completely transformed into His image when we see Him face to face.
Church when you seek Him with total abandon…then you will know the Joyful Blessedness which you can have in Him…
Isaiah 51:11
“So the ransomed of the Lord will return, And come with joyful shouting to Zion; And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Do you want an everlasting joy??? Do you desire that sorrow & sighing would flee from you? Remember that old song…”Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”???
Then you must have a longing and…
POINT THREE: A GREAT DESIRE
…A great desire to be in His presence!
Now the Psalmist turns to the Lord in prayer, which explodes from his heart as he would long and desire the blessed things of God….Isn’t that how it should make us all respond? Rather than running FROM God because we are not happy with our condition…we should run TO God!!!
And his prayer turns to great praise to God…
To sing of the Superiority of God’s Presence…
He sings a great song, which is also popular today, that to be in His presence for one day, is better than a thousand in the tents of the wicked. Just one day of fellowship with God is better than a thousand with any other…
-I would rather be a peasant serving the Lord in a church…than to be an affluent CEO for the leading Fortune 500 company…to be with Jesus!!!
Oh, that we would really believe and practice that…to be with Jesus!!!!
The greatest of all desires…above your dreams of success, money, family, cars, careers, material possessions, you name it…the greatest desire you could ever hope for is to be near God! To be in His Presence and Temple just once…over all other things…HE MUST BE OUR GREATEST DESIRE!!!
-This is why we see people who will spend hours in a line waiting to get into a building to hear a preacher…
-This is why thousands will fly around the world to see and experience the great moves of God in various places…
-However, the best spent time would be on your knees in searching out the goodness of God! In reading the Word and finding direction and peace for your life…Those are of the greatest desires you would ever ache for in your life!!!
Know that God will bestow favor and honor upon those whom He blesses.
A favor which is an expression of God’s grace by which He would draw near to us…as we would draw near to Him…to share His goodness and abundance with us. Thus your life would be showered with goodness!
For this is all that I strive for…
ILLUSTRATION:
Only The Applause Of God…
There was once a great pianist who was giving a concert in a large concert hall. When he finished the concert, everyone in the place stood up and gave him a standing ovation. Well, almost everyone…There was an old man in the front row who didn’t stand, but everyone else was on their feet cheering wildly.
When the pianist walked off the stage, he was crying. His manager asked him what was wrong and he said, “Didn’t you see the man in the first row who wasn’t standing and wasn’t applauding?”
The manager said, “Sure, I saw him. But that was the only person who was not standing and cheering. Why worry about the old man?”
Then the pianist said, “But you don’t understand. That man was the composer of the music I played tonight. He is the only one who counts. He is the only one who knows what the piece is supposed to sound like.”
For my greatest fear that keeps me motivated to know God and to continue in my service for Him is found in this…Matthew 7:21-23 - "Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. [22] "Many will say to Me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ [23] "And then I will declare to them, ’I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
You see…it is more than just doing His work, and being helpful to people or being good…But are you known by God???
Thus…we must be motivated by a great desire to know God and to be in His Presence!!!
As the Psalmist ends this chapter…he encourages everyone to seek the Lord and place their trust in Him. For the essence of Godliness is the submissive heart to God…
Then, it is He who will bestow His great blessings on those who do find their refuge in Him.
IN CONCLUSION:
Isaiah 55:1
"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
-A prerequisite for anyone who would want to be near God is that they have a genuine hunger and thirst for Him…
-Accompanied with it, is that we would repent of our sins…so that those things which would separate us from God and His presence is removed…so that we would be able to draw towards Him in faith, and with a full assurance…
-Lastly, it is a vital condition upon which we will continue to see and receive the fullness of what God has for us…
Thus, we would then fulfill…Isaiah 55:6-7 - “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. [7] Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
Come while He will still be found…
Forsake your former ways so that you can be near Him…
Return unto the Lord…which you were created for and by…
ALTAR CALL:
When is the last time your old heart ached for God?
Have you lost the great desire…the deep longing…is the joy of the blessing lost…?
Have you abandoned the Straight and Narrow way for the way which is broad and easy? Just your own path…because You and God have a deal worked out, and He knows your heart…? Hey, we all toe the same line…there are no special deals.
Do you need…
Salvation…
Renewal of the Heart…
A fresh desire and heart-ache for God…
If your prayer is that your heart would ache for God once again…some as we sing…”As The Deer”…
