lifeWorship

On Sunday we began our time of worship by taking a look at Psalm 84–the biblical passage on which the song “Better is One Day” is based.  This week we will be meditating on this Psalm to see how we can incorporate worship into our everyday lives.

Psalm 84 (ESV)

1 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 y 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 l walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

This Psalm can be summarized in one very simple concept:  We are to delight in worshiping God.   This Psalm speaks of the delight and joy of those who are going to worship God in His dwelling place.  They are filled with joy as they seek to be in His presence.

Unlike today, traveling to the Lord’s dwelling place was a large undertaking for the people in this Psalm.  Many of them traveled a long way through treacherous territory to enter the presence of God.  As we will see later this week, as we unpack the Psalm in smaller sections, their worship of God was not something that took place only when they reached their destination, but something that sustained them along the journey as well.

The reason I chose this Psalm to begin our summer focus on worship is this:  I want to encourage you to think about two facets of worship.  There is one side of worship when we all gather together on Sunday morning in the house of the Lord and we enter into his presence.  We gather together corporately to lift up praises to His name, to offer prayers and sacrifices to Him, and to be shaped and encouraged by His word and His church, the body of Christ.

But there is also another side of worship that takes place outside of those corporate gatherings on Sunday mornings.  There is the worship that takes place on the journey through life during the week.  This daily side of worship serves a massively important role in our spiritual lives and it must exist in tandem with corporate worship on Sunday morning.

This week we will explore how this Psalm illustrates the need for both in our lives as we unpack each section of verses.  But today, I’d like to encourage you to meditate on this Psalm as a whole, while asking God to cultivate your heart and mind to delight in worshiping Him.  I’ll close with a short prayer.

Lord of Hosts, We acknowledge You as the Ruler of all Creation.  You are all-powerful and all deserving of our praise and worship.  Thank you for Your grace and for Your Spirit which dwells within us, allowing us to meet with you.  We confess Lord that we do not always seek to worship You with our lives on a daily basis, and that we have fallen short of Your glory.  We ask that you would illuminate our hearts and minds to what You would have us learn this week as we meditate on Your word.  In the precious name of Your Son, Amen.