Psalm 84 is written by a traveller longing for home. Home for him is not where he lives but Zion, (v7) God’s place. But it is not the spiritual experience of visiting the most beautiful building the world has ever seen that he seeks but God himself. His body and soul, heart and flesh are screaming for God with a longing so strong he feels he will pass out. How strong is the yearning? Someone said to me last week, I sometimes read the Bible for an hour and cannot tear myself away.
He envies the sparrow or swallow who have made nests in the Temple. I confess that I once had starlings nesting and having their young in my eaves… Three days later I replaced the soffits and didn’t have them. But even what ornithologists refer to as LBJs (Little brown jobs) find a niche and are welcome to stay in God’s home, which should encourage those of us who are their unnoticed human equivalents.
The songwriter would love to be praising God 24/7. As Matt Redman expressed it:
I long to be where the praise is never ending Yearn to dwell over glory never fades Where countless worshipers will sing one song And cries of worthy will honour the Lamb
He is looking forward so much to this beautiful prospect that it lights up his present life. Even when the pilgrimage route takes in the Valley of Weeping (Baka) the tears transform into pools of beauty and life. The pilgrims actually get stronger as the journey progresses because all the time they are getting their strength in you Lord. A Puritan once said, All the way to heaven is heaven. There are tears in this life which Jesus will wipe away but we still have the love of Jesus all the way. As Peter put it, (1 Peter 1:4-9)
"though now for a little while you may suffer grief in all kinds of trials. They have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith… may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy that you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
Think about the day when you personally will appear before God in Zion. When you will wake up for the first time to eternal day and see Jesus. Then go into today in the strength of the Lord. Whatever the world offers in its tents of wickedness, financial centres or Love Islands will never compare to the favour and honour we enjoy from the Lord even here and now, let alone when he looks us in the eye and we hear his words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Comments