PSALM 84
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,Lord of Armies.
2 I long and yearnfor the courts of the Lord;my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even a sparrow finds a home,and a swallow, a nest for herselfwhere she places her young—near your altars, Lord of Armies,my King and my God.
4 How happy are those who reside in your house,who praise you continually.Selah
5 Happy are the people whose strength is in you,whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,they make it a source of spring water;even the autumn rain will cover it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength;each appears before God in Zion.
8 Lord God of Armies, hear my prayer;listen, God of Jacob. Selah
9 Consider our shield, God;look on the face of your anointed one.
10 Better a day in your courtsthan a thousand anywhere else.I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my Godthan live in the tents of wicked people.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield.The Lord grants favor and honor;he does not withhold the goodfrom those who live with integrity.
12 Happy is the person who trusts in you,Lord of Armies!
PRAYER GUIDE:
In our Sunday series on “The Dwelling Place”, we are looking at places where God has historically dwelt amongst his people so that we may better recognize and prioritize his presence in our midst. To dwell is to take up residence with, and throughout all of Scripture, we see God’s heart and desire to make his home with us. Similarly, we also see that the Lord’s presence is our good (Psalm 73:8). That among followers of Jesus, there is a deep love for the house where God dwells, and the place where His glory resides (Psalm 26:8).
As we reflect on God’s dwelling with his people, I wanted us as a church to meditate upon and pray through Psalm 84. Psalm 84 is a picture of longing for God and his house. The Psalm is saturated with a clear affection – the psalmist loved the dwelling of God and considered it beautiful and lovely. The psalmist also recognized that those who dwell in the House of the Lord shall be happy and strengthened.
Commenting on Psalm 84, Tim Keller noted that the psalmist “is fully aware that all of his heart’s deepest longings will be satisfied not by belief in some remote, impersonal divine force but only by a living God–one who is encountered as a personal, living presence.” I hope that this Psalm will show you that we have real access to a living God who is encounterable. I pray that God may form a deep longing for Him within each of us as we eagerly seek to live in communion with Him.
HEAR:
The primary posture of a disciple of Jesus is to sit at his feet and listen to him. Pete Greig says that when it comes to hearing God, the Bible is the language of his heart. I know that I often have the tendency to talk at God more than I take the time to be with him and listen to his voice. We start off our prayer sets in a time of hearing, inviting the Holy Spirit to speak to us. In his book on prayer, Tyler Staton talks about how “stillness is the quiet space where God migrates from the periphery back to the center, and prayer pours forth from the life that has God at the center.” Before we respond to God, we must know God and listen to him.
Use this time to listen to the Holy Spirit. To help guide you, you can specifically be thinking about:
What are the things in your life that you long and year for? See that only the living God can satisfy every desire (v.2).
What are the places and things that you prioritize over simply dwelling in the house of the Lord? Recognize that the Lord’s presence is our good (v.10).
Do you believe that the Lord withholds no good thing from those whom he loves? Trust him to provide for the deepest longing of your heart (vv11-12).
Read through Psalm 84 (you can also go to other passages of scripture) and ask the Lord to highlight a specific word, phrase, or verse to you. Ask God to speak to you and meditate upon the text.
RESPOND:
Psalm 84 is a passage about the people of God going up to Jerusalem. They were pulled out of their provincial lives and into the center of God’s activity on earth. They were reminded that there was a place that they could go and meet with the living God. Because of Jesus, we too have access to the living God.
Respond to the Lord in prayer. You can pray through the following prompts:
Pray that we would prioritize God’s presence in our daily lives, families, church, and city. Pray that we would be formed into people of the presence of God (vv1-12).
Intercede on behalf of those who haven’t made their home with the living God. Pray that they would encounter the Lord and be transformed by him (v.3).
Ask God to crowd out lesser desires and things that do not satisfy (v.10).
Ask the Holy Spirit how else you can pray and press into that.
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