For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
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.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Selah
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah
Look upon our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
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.
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.
O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.
My Understanding: In the time that this psalm was written, the dwelling place for the Lord was in a physical temple where the people of God went to meet with their God. Yet, when Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, his death opened the way so that God’s people could come into his presence without having to go to a physical place to meet God. Through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, the curtain that divided the Holy of Holies from the people was torn in two, making the way possible for all of us to come into God’s presence through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. The temple of God, thus, is now both in individual lives of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior, and it is in the collective body of believers in Jesus Christ, comprising the church (not the institutional church), the body of Christ; his people; his saints; his servants.
So, in making this psalm practical and applicable to our lives today, it must be understood in the context of the new covenant relationship between God and his people, through Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the cross for our sins, in light of the teachings of the New Testament (in the Bible), and in light of our understanding of what the temple of God is today. It is not a physical place or a building. It is not a corporation or a denomination. It is not a club or an organization you have to join separate from your relationship with Jesus Christ. The sanctuary of God is not a room in a building called a church. It is simply the body of believers in Jesus Christ throughout the world, and it is in our individual hearts and lives.
So, when we come into God’s dwelling place today, we are coming to God in either our own personal times of worship, Bible study and prayer during our daily quiet times with the Lord, or we are getting together with other believers in Jesus Christ (location does not matter) for a time of corporate worship, Bible study, prayer, fellowship and the sharing of spiritual gifts in ministry one to the other. And, our souls should yearn daily for those times alone with the Lord during our times of personal worship of God, as well as our souls should yearn for those times of spiritual fellowship, Bible study, prayer, the breaking of bread, and the mutual encouragement and edification of one another in the collective body of Christ. Other than my personal times of worship and fellowship with my Lord on a daily basis, there is nothing more precious to me than those times of true spiritual fellowship with other believers in Jesus Christ where we share our hearts with one another, lift one another up in prayer, sing praises to God in unity, study God’s word, and we grow together in the Lord.
Then, the psalmist speaks of God’s people’s individual relationships with God. Joyful and peaceful are those who find their strength, hope, fortress, and stay in the Lord. They have set their hearts on pilgrimage (a journey to a holy place), i.e. they have set their hearts on walking daily with the Lord Jesus Christ in his will, in his strength, under his guidance and direction, in obedience to his commands, and following him wherever he leads them. They have set their hearts on eternity with God in heaven, which begins right now where we live today, and is revealed by how we live our daily lives; revealing whether we are setting our hope on this world and what this world has to offer us, or whether our hope is in the Lord and we are living out our lives with eternity’s values in view.
This journey will take us through valleys of sorrow (low places emotionally or spiritually; trials; tribulations; and times of great testing of our faith), yet even during those low periods in our lives, because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we can rejoice! Jesus Christ was able to endure the cross because of the joy of the hope that was set before him, i.e. the salvation of human souls and lives. And, we, too, can endure these times of trial in our own lives, which we will undoubtedly encounter on our pilgrimage (our spiritual journey), by our faith in Jesus Christ, in his promises, and in the hope we have of eternal life with God in heaven. We must realize that this world is not our home. We are just passing through. Our true hope, joy and peace is found in our eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, not in this life or in this world. God will bless those who find their hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ along their spiritual journey, and he will fill us with much joy and peace along the way.
Then, the psalmist declared his true heart devotion to God Almighty. Just one day in close, intimate and personal fellowship with his Lord God, either by himself or with other believers, was better than a thousand days elsewhere. He would rather be a doorkeeper in God’s house than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. In other words, he would rather take the role of a servant (a doorman) than to dwell among (have his livelihood, or to participate with, have fellowship with, or join with) the wicked (the worldly; those living sinful lifestyles). This role of a doorkeeper, though, in light of the New Testament understanding of the temple of the Lord, takes on a new meaning. Jesus Christ said he was the door/gate into heaven and also into fellowship with God via salvation from sin, which then brings one into the corporate body of Christ, the church, as well. We come into this relationship with God by his grace, through faith (repentance and obedience) in Jesus Christ.
So, for one to be a doorman or a gatekeeper in the temple of the Lord today, this would be one who serves as a witness in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and/or one who serves as a watchman in warning the church of danger of sin and rebellion, and one who calls the church to repentance. Either is not a glorified position, and is one that will often meet with resistance and rejection, yet the psalmist declared he would, in essence, rather face ridicule, scorn and rejection for the sake of walking in obedience to God than to have the fellowship and acceptance of those out in the world living sinful lifestyles. I agree!
The reason for this declaration is that the psalmist knew the spiritual blessings of God in his life would far outweigh any acceptance of man he might experience by joining in with the wicked. He knew the Light of Life, i.e. the source of eternal life, and he knew him on an intimate level, too. There is nothing greater in this life than to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and to have daily communion and fellowship with him, and to walk humbly in obedience to him every day and every step of our lives. Jesus Christ will give us all we need for walking this journey with him, if have repented of (turned from) our sins, and if we have turned to walk in faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ by God’s grace and in his strength, and in the power of the working of his Holy Spirit within us in cleansing us and in making us holy. “O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man” (or woman) “who trusts in you.”
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go / George Matheson / Albert L. Peace
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
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