lifeWorship

Psalm 84:1-4

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 singing your praise! Selah

Today we are looking at the opening section of Psalm 84.  The first 4 verses of this Psalm are a beautiful description of our privilege to enter into God’s presence.

Let’s just spend a moment reflecting on verses 1 and 2.  The psalmist writes from a deep longing and desire that penetrates his entire being.  His soul literally longs to be in God’s presence so desperately that he breaks into joyful song in praise of God.

There is a something subtle yet quite profound about what is going on here.  Have you ever wondered why we sing songs in worship on a Sunday morning?  One reason is simply that we are exhorted to do so in scripture, but this psalm shows us something else.  The person in this psalm reaches the point where he is so overcome with the transcendent joy of God’s presence that he can offer no other response than to cry out in song to God.

Music is a precious gift from God to us for many reasons.  Sometimes music has the amazing capability to express emotions and feelings within us that cannot be conveyed simply through words.  To put it another way, sometimes it takes more than words to express how we feel in certain situations.

We see this all the time in our culture today.  Why do you think love songs are so much more popular today than love poems?  Similarly, I can think of many more sad songs that made me cry than sad stories.  Music is a powerful form of human expression.

So what does all this have to do with worship?  I think it is important to think about what we long for, or what is most important to us.  We naturally celebrate things that are important to us.  An easy example of this would be someone’s birthday.  We celebrate their birthday because they are important to us.  What naturally happens when we celebrate someone’s birthday?  We SING Happy Birthday to them.

Now I’m not trying to equate singing “Happy Birthday” with worship.  That isn’t it at all.  I’m simply trying to demonstrate a connection between singing and things that we value.

I am very thankful that God gives us the ability to worship Him through music. There are several reasons why we use music to worship God, and we will explore those more at a later time.  But today I would simply like to propose to you the idea that singing can be an emotional response to something we value.

What is it that you value you most in life?  What do you sing about?  I don’t know if I’m quite there yet or not, but I would like to get to that place on a Sunday morning, where I’m so captured by God’s beauty, that my soul literally cries out in song. That is worship through music in its purest sense.

Verses 3 and 4 convey the generous invitation God extends to us to enter into His presence.  “Even the sparrow…” a simple bird is welcomed in to find a home in God’s house.  What a wonderful place to dwell.  We are blessed when we dwell in God’s house.  In Him we find shelter and rest.  Again, singing is mentioned as a expression of this blessing.  Its almost as if God commutes joy to us through the singing of His praises.  What an amazing thought…a concept we will explore greatly in the days and weeks ahead.