Psalm 84--My Soul Longs for the Courts of the LORD

Psalm 84
English Standard Version

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the LORD
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
84 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
    for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever singing your praise! Selah

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
    they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
    each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
    give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed!

​10 For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
    the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

---

The Sons of Korah are a group of Levites with an interesting past.  Just see Numbers 16 if you don't remember who Korah was and the rebellion that he led against Moses.  His descendants now serve the LORD by writing and singing music, as we see several psalms written by them.  This psalm is placed right after the psalms of Asaph that we've been studying, probably because it is the answer to Asaph's "question" about the wicked seeming to go unpunished, the righteous suffering, and waiting for the LORD's judgment and salvation.  We look forward to His coming Kingdom and we can get a taste of that every time we come into the house of the LORD to worship.

Matt Redman's version of this psalm has a chorus, "Better is one day in Your courts, better is one day in Your house.  Better is one day in Your courts, than thousands elsewhere."  However, we do not have to go to the house of the LORD to be in His presence anymore, because we now live in a time when the Spirit of the LORD indwells all the people of the LORD so that they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  We don't have to long for communion with God to be something that will happen someday in the future, or long to go to a place where we can only get but so close to the presence of the LORD that is kept in the innermost part of the Tempel behind a thick veil (or so people imagined, because that is where the Shekinah Glory of the LORD resided as it hovered over the Ark of the Covenant, yet the LORD's Presence could not be contained by a room or an Ark or even a Temple).  Solomon spoke of this in His dedication of the Temple, "Heaven is your throne room, and the Earth is your footstool."

Even the birds of the air desire to make their nests and find shelter and safety for themselves and their young, yet our security and rest is found in God alone.  Then these Levites say that it is a blessed thing to be able to dwell in the house of the LORD and serve Him and praise Him all the day long.  They are content with their position that the LORD has given them as opposed to the rebellion that occurred in the book of Numbers when others coveted the fact that Aaron and his sons got to offer incense before the LORD, but no one else could.  The Sons of Korah now rejoice in the fact that the LORD has made them His servants to serve Him and His people in this way.

​The Sons of Korah then remind the people to find their strength in the LORD in trying and hard times that feel like going through a dry place with no water (the Valley of Baca).  God gives us strength to make it through each new day so that we go from strength to strength.  This happens as we pray to Him, and we know He hears and answers our prayers (in His way and in His time).  The psalmists also remind us that the one who hears our prayers is the Creator of the universe and the one who commands the angel armies (LORD of Host refers to being in command over all the stars in the physical heavens and all the angels in spiritual realm that we call heaven).  They also rest in Him because He is the Shield and Defender of His people.  He alone will protect them from all their enemies--physical and spiritual, and He will bring about the blessings of His covenant for His people (let His face shine upon them).

Then we get to the lessons learned by the Sons of Korah--it is better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the LORD if that is what He has called you to than to live thousands of days anywhere else.  Certainly, it is better to dwell in the house of the LORD (even as a servant) than to live in the tents of the wicked.  The LORD is compared to both the Sun and a Shield for His people and the One who bestows both favor and honor on His people.  Everything He does is right and just, and He gives good things to us, His children (those who are part of His family by Adoption).  Blessed is the one who trusts and hopes in the LORD!