Psalm 84

Continuing to focus this devotional blog on “Pre-written prayers” (if this is a new concept for you, you may want to read this blog first: http://chdevotions.blogspot.com/2008/06/book-of-perhaps-not-so-common-prayer.html ), I turn now to the collection of prepared prayers in the Cannon: the book of Psalms. (This is the same intro as the blog from July 8th where I also used a psalm.)

For thousands of years God’s children have used the Psalms to sing or pray without music to the Lord. The Psalms can be used corporately or alone. There are Psalms of praise, lament and thanksgiving to name a few. When I pray through a Psalm I generally read it through first and then pray it to God slowly one or two times. I chose Psalm 145. Please pray through it yourself and reflect on what the Holy Spirit focuses you on before going on to my thoughts below.

Psalm 84

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD Almighty!

2 My soul yearns, even faints,

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and my flesh cry out

for the living God.

3 Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may have her young--

a place near your altar,

O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.

4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;

they are ever praising you. Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it a place of springs;

the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

7 They go from strength to strength,

till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;

listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah

9 Look upon our shield, O God;

look with favor on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

from those whose walk is blameless.

12 O LORD Almighty,

blessed is the man who trusts in you.

As I prayed through this psalm I could not help but think of all the CH group homes I have been in over the past year and especially the one I used to serve in. It is our desire that all of our group homes are the Lord’s houses. This psalm when originally written was about the temple or tabernacle. In those days the Lord’s presence was only sure to be found in that one place. Since the curtain was torn however, we now are His temple. The Holy Spirit lives in all believers. I like to use Exodus 25 when I am doing a commissioning service. In it everyone who is willing is called to bring their offerings to the building of the tabernacle. Some gifts are precious (gold) and some are mundane (goat’s hair) but all are used to build a place where God and humanity can come together. That is what we want in our group homes. We want them to be a place where God is encountered. They may not be glamorous at times. Sometimes there are dirty jobs to be done. That is what I thought of as I prayed the line: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked”.

I know I was often tempted to treat the home where I worked as my home (i.e. do what was best/easiest for me) and lose sight of the fact that the home belongs to those who live there and ultimately God.



Mark Wallace