PSALMS LESSON 84
 
     We will begin this lesson by giving the 84th Psalm in metre.

                   THE PSALM OF DAVID IN METRE

                             Chapter 84

verse 1  "Lord God of hosts, how lovely The place where thou dost
         dwell! Thy tabernacles holy In pleasantness excel."
verse 2  "My soul is longing, fainting, Jehovah's court to see;
         My heart and flesh are crying, O living God, for thee.
verse 3  "Behold, the sparrow findeth A house in which to rest,
         The swallow hath discovered Where she may build her nest;"
verse 4  "And where, securely sheltered, Her young she forth may
         bring; So, Lord of hosts, thy altars I seek, my God, my
         King."
verse 5  "Blest who thy house inhabit, They ever give the praise;
         Blest all whom thou dost strengthen, Who love the sacred
         ways."
verse 6  "Who pass through Baca's valley, And make in it a well;
         There rains in showers abundant The pools with water fill."
verse 7  "So they from strength unwearied Go forward into strength,
         Till they appear in Zion, Before the Lord at length."
verse 8  "O hear, Lord God of Jacob, To me an answer yield;
         The face of thy anointed, Behold, O God, our shield."
verse 9  "One day excels a thousand, If spent thy courts within;
         I'll choose thy threshhold rather That dwell in tents of
         sin."
verse 10 "Our sun and shield, Jehovah, Will grace and glory give;
         No good will He deny them That uprightly do live."
verse 11 "O God of hosts, Jehovah, How blest is every one,
         Who confidence reposes On thee, O Lord, alone."

     We will begin now with the verse by verse study of the 84th
chapter of Psalms. Psalms 84:1 "{To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A
Psalm for the sons of Korah.} How amiable [are] thy tabernacles, O
LORD of hosts!"

     Amiable, in the verse above, means loved or well-beloved. This is
the only use of this word in all the Bible. There is so much in this
little verse. Let us first look at the tabernacle. The tabernacle in
the wilderness was a place where God met with His people. It was
patterned after the true tabernacle which is in heaven. When the
people could go to the tabernacle, it was a point of contact with
Almighty God. Hebrews 8:5 "Who serve unto the example and shadow of
heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to
make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."  As we always
do, in these lessons, let us look at what it means to the Christian.
Revelation 21:3 "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them, [and be] their God." Let us look at one more Scripture on the
tabernacle. II Corinthians 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house
of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."  The most
beautiful thing in all the earth is believers worshipping their God.
The Jews came to the tabernacle to do just that on feast days.
Christians gather on Sundays. To take away the privilege to worship
with others of like faith, would be to tear our heart out. The
tabernacle was the center point of the tents when they travelled. This
should still be true. Our worship of God should be the center of our
life. God's desire is to tabernacle in the very center of our being.

     Psalms 84:2 "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts
of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God."

     I will begin this by asking, do we long for fellowship with God?
Is God the focal point of our life? Are we feeling as if we want to go
and worship God, or do we go because it is an obligation? In recent
years, an area in China made it illegal to worship God publicly. After
years of not being able to go to church, the government allowed the
people to worship again. People waited 10 or 12 hours for the
privilege of attending church.  The problem is, we do not miss the
privilege, until it is taken away from us. Perhaps, the psalmist had
been forbidden to gather with the Lord and the Lord's people. It was
as if he would die, if he could not go to the court of the Lord and
worship. His bones ached, his flesh felt dead, in fact, even his heart
within him was breaking to be with the living God. You have heard me
say before that, I refuse to go to a church where it is apparent that
the Spirit of God is not there. Church, to me, is fellowshipping with
my Saviour.

     Psalms 84:3 "Yea, the sparrow hath found an 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."

     Everything God created has a place. As the verse above says, for
the swallow it is a nest. There is a longing put inside every person,
who was ever born, to feel what that swallow feels, when she is in her
nest. We all have a desire to worship someone who is better than what
this world has to offer. We all have a need of belonging to someone.
This someone we are seeking is God. I believe this Psalm is David's
and I believe he is saying, I must go to the altar and meet with the
LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. This is a longing that can not be
satisfied anywhere else.

     Psalms 84:4 "Blessed [are] they that dwell in thy house: they
will be still praising thee. Selah."

     Dwell means to continually live. David is speaking of how blessed
are those who never have to leave the temple. They can praise the Lord
all the day long. There is something about a church, or a tabernacle,
in their case, that causes us to want to worship and praise God. Of
course you can praise and worship Him wherever you are, but there is
something special about the church.

     Psalms 84:5 "Blessed [is] the man whose strength [is] in thee; in
whose heart [are] the ways [of them]."

     He has already gone into detail about how wonderful it is to live
continually in God's house. He now says, also, how wonderful it would
be to be allowed to go on the special feast days and worship. It
appears for some reason he has been denied this. Those who understand
their own weaknesses are more apt to depend on the strength of God.
II Corinthians 12:9 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me." In my weakness I depend upon the strength of
God to get me through. Our heart would be stayed upon Him, if He was
our strength.

     Psalms 84:6 "[Who] passing through the valley of Baca make it a
well; the rain also filleth the pools."

This, perhaps, is speaking of journeying to the sanctuary or temple.
Many came from miles around on the feast days to the temple in
Jerusalem to worship. God had provided wells along the way to keep
them from starving for water. Some of the wells of Old Testament time
are still giving water today. As they refreshed and got a drink at
these wells, they would have an opportunity to visit with others going
to or from Jerusalem.

     Psalms 84:7 "They go from strength to strength, [every one of
them] in Zion appeareth before God."

     Three times a year all the males over 12 years old had to attend
services in the temple at Jerusalem. It seemed the nearer they got to
their place of worship, the stronger they got. In the physical the
place of worship was in Zion in Jerusalem. In Revelation we saw that
Jesus {the Light} was in all the churches where He was worshipped. You
can see that the Christians, too, appeareth before God.

     Psalms 84:8 "O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God
of Jacob. Selah."

     This seems to be a cry for audience with God. He wants to go to
the temple and worship, but if he can not, then hear his prayer where
he is. Of course, Selah means pause and think on these things.

     Psalms 84:9 "Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of
thine anointed."

     This just must be David {the anointed}. This is a prayer to the
protector of all believers to hear their prayer.

     Psalms 84:10 "For a day in thy courts [is] better than a
thousand.  I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness."

     Whatever humble job God would have him do, would be just fine
with him, as long as he could be with God. I have said so many times,
I do not care what my mansion in heaven looks like, I just want to be
with Jesus. All the splendid living in the world away from God is not
worth being away from God.

     Psalms 84:11 "For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield: the LORD
will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them
that walk uprightly."

     This is speaking of having protection and Light. The Lord
controls the sun and the moon. Jesus brought us grace and glory, when
he was crucified. Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:"  Romans
5:15 "But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift.  For if
through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath
abounded unto many."  It is really difficult for us to understand how
the crucifixion of Jesus glorified the Father, but it did as we see in
the following verse. John 17:1 "These words spake Jesus, and lifted up
his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy
Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:"  We Christians take on the
righteousness of Christ, when we are saved. We are in right standing
with God, just as if we had never sinned. If we walk in that
righteousness that Jesus purchased for us on Calvary, no good thing
will be withheld from us. We will be joint-heirs with Jesus. Romans
8:17 "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and jointheirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also
glorified together."

     Psalms 84:12 "O LORD of hosts, blessed [is] the man that trusteth
in thee."

     How much more blessed could you be than to be part of the family
of God? To trust in Him, is as if we are resting in the knowledge that
all is well with our soul. Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Philippians 2:24 "But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall
come shortly." To trust in God is life everlasting.















                             Questions 84

1.  What does amiable, in verse one, mean?
2.  What was the tabernacle in the wilderness?
3.  What was it patterned after?
4.  Quote Hebrews chapter 8 verse 5.
5.  Quote Revelation chapter 21 verse 3.
6.  What does 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1 call a tabernacle?
7.  What would it be like to take away our privilege to worship with
    others?
8.  Do we long for fellowship with God?
9.  Why do we go to church?
10. We do not miss the privilege of worship, until it is ______ ____.
11. The someone we are all seeking is ___.
12. What does dwell mean?
13. Who are the blessed in verse 5?
14. Quote 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9.
15. In verse 6, passing through the valley of Baca is speaking of
    what?
16. How many times a year were all the males above 12 years old
    required to go to the temple to worship?
17. Where was Zion physically?
18. What book of the Bible tells us that Jesus is in all the churches
    who believe in Him?
19. What is God called in verse 9?
20. To be near God, David was willing to be what?
21. Quote Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8.
22. Glorify the Son that the Son might ________ _____.
23. Where do we find that Christians will be jointheirs with Jesus?
24. Quote Ephesians chapter 4 verse 13.
25. Quote Philippians chapter 2 verse 24.