What He said!, Pt 9: 1000 Days Of Joy

Psalm 84:1-12                        1God of Heaven’s Armies, you find so much beauty in your people! They’re like lovely sanctuaries of your presence. 2Deep within me are these lovesick longings, desires and daydreams of living in union with you. When I’m near you my heart and my soul will sing and worship with my joyful songs of you, my true source and spring of life! 3O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God, even the sparrows and swallows are welcome to build a nest among your altars for the birds to raise their young. 4What pleasure fills those who live every day in your temple, enjoying you as they worship in your presence!  5How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord; within their hearts are the highways of holiness! 6Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled from the rain of an outpouring. 7They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward, and the God of all gods will appear before them in Zion. 8Hear my cry, O God of Heaven’s Armies! God of Jacob, listen to my loving prayer.  9God, your wrap-around presence is our defense.  In your kindness look upon the faces of your anointed ones. 10For just one day of intimacy with you is like a thousand days of joy rolled into one! I’d rather stand at the threshold in front of the Gate Beautiful, ready to go in and worship my God, than to live my life without you in the most beautiful palace of the wicked. 11For the Lord God is brighter than the brilliance of a sunrise! Wrapping himself around me like a shield, he is so generous with his gifts of grace and glory. Those who walk along his paths with integrity will never lack one thing they need, for he provides it all! 12O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what euphoria fills those who forever trust in you!  (TPT)

For several posts now we have been talking about the kind of faith which we find after that point of epiphany when our soul ecstatically reaches towards God.  If you remember, this epiphany refers not to our point of salvation, but to the realization of our need to reach to Him for daily sustenance.  This Psalm talks about these things.

When we think of the functioning of the Temple we may think of the righteousness of the priests conducting the sacrifices, or we may think of the beauty of the songs and music which were sung or played to usher in the presence of the Lord.  We may even think of those of the descendants of Levi who guarded the temple treasury.  But we seldom think of the gatekeepers.  These were the sons of Levi who kept watch on the walls of the Temple, supervised the business conducted at the various gates and colonnades, and, surprisingly, were the janitors of the Temple.  It was these men, the Sons of Korah, of the family Levi,  not the priests, nor the worship leaders, who wrote this magnificent Psalm of praise.  Of all the Psalms, there really is none other like it.

There are several metaphors in this Psalm.  What, for instance, do sparrows or swallows, or valleys of tears have to do with praising God?  Sparrows are symbols of something that was almost worthless.  When they were sold in the Temple to those who had nothing to sacrifice it was two for a penny or five for two pennies.  What does that imply for us?  If such insignificant members of God’s creation could find a place for themselves in God’s Temple isn’t there also a place for us?  Are we not of greater worth than sparrows?   Swallows on the other hand are symbols of restlessness.  These birds apparently never stop their flying, fliting from one destination to the next, except when they stop to mate, build a nest, and raise their young.  Here too is a picture of our restless soul finding no place to rest except in the presence of God.  Some translations of ‘valley of tears’ use ‘valley of weeping’ which some commentators think is a better translation because of the ‘weeping’ nature of some of the trees which grow in the dry and arid environment in that part of the world.  In any case commentators see the phrase as a metaphor for a difficult and sorrowful path through life.  Any traveler to Jerusalem was likely to travel though such a place on their journey and although difficult that journey was worth the struggle considering the joyful worshipping found at its end.

When we consider the beauty of this Psalm, it is surprising to realize it was written by the janitors.  Surprising, yes, but no accident.  Not many of us are pastors or worship leaders; most of us are just ordinary people who love the Lord our God.  So it is that much more poignant to read words written by someone just like us.  If we are just ordinary people, maybe janitors like the Sons or Korah, God is just as interested in us as he is in the priests or worship leaders.  If we wait tables, or drive Uber, or build houses we are still as important to God as those others. 

But are we as interested in our Lord God as He is in us?  I ask this because of the revelation that custodians wrote this Psalm.  That seems profound to me.  When I consider that men one of whose functions was to clean the latrines of the day wrote these words of praise, I wonder if my faith and trust in God reaches the same level of devotion.  Consider that verse 10 basically says, “I’d rather clean latrines in the house of my Lord God than eat caviar in the most gorgeous palace of the wicked.”  Or that verse 6 could say, “I know my life sucks, but I choose life over death and gladness over sorrow.”  I recently have had quite a few struggles.  How about you?  The temptation in my heart when such things occur is to withdraw and isolate myself.  I usually yell at God (this, too, is prayer), asking Him, “Just how much manure are you planning on dumping on my head?”  I think most people go through such times, but we often think we can’t reveal these things at church.  I’m sure the Sons of Korah did so also; just because they lived 3500 years ago does not make them less susceptible to normal human emotion.  But what is unusual is the way they responded to these feelings.  In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to one day discover that Psalm 84 was written precisely because of these feelings.

Do you think they griped about having to clean toilets?  I suppose that’s possible, but I rather give these men high marks for devotion.  I think they were so excited to be working in the Temple, of being in the presence of God, of being able to sing His praises whether off or on work, that their very selves were raised in joy.  What makes us different than them?  Is it the fight we had with our spouse on the way to church?  Is it our tendency to work ourselves into exhaustion so all we want to do is sleep?  You see everything in life is a choice, including our spiritual well-being.  That too is a choice.  We can choose to allow the concerns of the world so overwhelm us that our serenity is affected.  Or we can choose to get in God’s face, talk to Him about our worries, and yes even yell if we have to.  What is the big issue in your life right now?  Do you understand that God knows about it already?  I feel reasonably confident God did not send that issue to torment you.  Satan might have, but I doubt he did.  It’s just that stuff happens.  God just is interested in how you respond to it.  So let’s choose to talk to God about it.  Listen for that small voice that offers an answer.  That’s God responding to you.  What possibly could be grander than that?