How blessed are those who dwell in your house! They are ever praising you.” Psalm 84:4 True blessing and happiness is found only in the presence of and in fellowship with God. This blessing is for those who dwell in His house. I hear the language of John 15 and 1 John 4 in Psalm…
The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a new for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3 The psalmist so desired the presence of God that here he expressed a level of envy of the birds who can…
My soul longed even yearned for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 84:2 This verse heightens the psalmist’s longing for God expressed in Psalm 84:1. He expresses depth of person with the three-fold references to himself, my soul, my heart, and my flesh….
“How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts.” Psalm 84:1 I am in awe that the God of creation, who rules the armies of angels, is near and even in His people. The plural dwelling places raises some discussion among commentators. Those who address it explain it as a plural of amplification or…
The knowledge of God is the key to godliness. John Gill says, “Where ignorance reigns no good thing dwells,” but Psalm 84 says, “No good thing does [God] withhold from those who walk uprightly.” What a contrast. Psalm 84 demands a desire for God that feeds a pursuit of God that leads to the presence…
Here is John Gill on the disposition of godly people: The disposition of their souls is God-ward and to His service. They have an understanding of Him, and desire to know more of Him, and follow on to know Him in the use of means. Their thoughts are employed about Him. They think on His…
Psalm 75 provides us with two alternatives: praising God or praising ourselves. From the beginning of time humanity was created to make God’s name known, but with the conflict of the fall, people began making a name for themselves instead of glorifying God. Satan uses the desire to make our names known in his temptation…
Imagine watching the victory procession of a king from a bird’s eye view. That’s a good way of thinking about Psalm 68. Only it proclaims God’s victory. This psalm points to the last days when God will defeat all of His enemies, enter Israel and Jerusalem in victory, and rule from His throne over all….
O Lord God, let me not rest content with such an ideal of manhood as men have known apart from Christ. Rather let such a mind be in me as was in Him. John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash
I was recently reading over a sermon that I preached almost a year ago at a graduation service in India. What I read convicted me, not because it is particularly eloquent, but because it is true, and I haven’t been living it. 2 Timothy 4:6 is part of Paul’s dying words as he passes on…