Day 47: A place in Your house

How lovely are Your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD – my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Yes, the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, they will still be praising You. Selah…. For a day in Your 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. (Psalm 84:1-4, 10)

There was something about the House of the Lord that inspired a sense of longing in the heart of the Psalmist. We don’t know the circumstances that gave rise to this particular psalm. Was it pure loneliness? Had he been traveling? Did he miss the fellowship of the people of God?

We don’t know, but no doubt he longed for what he knew he could find there: the presence of God in worship; the swell of many voices lifting their praise to heaven; the Word read, preached and taught; fellowship with the saints; and, constant reminders of the forgiveness of his sins. He felt like one of the birds he had seen nesting in the corners or on the tops of the columns – that there was safety and security there, that it was a “home for the soul.”

Father, we love Your house so much. Help us to create by Your help a place that can be a home for men’s souls: a place where Your Word and Your Spirit come forth to restore their hearts and summon them to do noble things for Your Kingdom!