The Blue Church

As I write this I am sitting at home “snowed in”. I am thankful for a day’s
rest (although I know that I will be spending hours outside clearing this
icy / winter mix….) Still, it is great to be at home with my family. Right
now I can smell banana pancakes and bacon on the griddle, almost ready to be
consumed. I also know that Lisa has placed a cake in the oven so our
“sweet-tooth” will be satisfied. I have already been blessed with time to do
a more leisurely devotional and to work out in my home gym while listening
to some music. Perhaps I’ll read today or play a game or two. The house is
warm and familiar and I am very comfortable. This is why when I am away from
it I can’t wait to get back home.

If you ask folks where there favorite place is to be, many of them will say,
“My home”. They will all have their specific reasons but a lot of them will
fall into some familiar themes; feeling safe, being with loved ones, having
access to the things we enjoy most, and comfort.

Psalm 84 helps us to consider a different dwelling place, one that is very
satisfying to the writer:

Psalm 84

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young-
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
    listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God;
    look with favor on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose walk is blameless.

12 Lord Almighty,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you.

May I point out some things about what was just shared?

The writer yearns, even faints to be in God’s house (likely a reference to
God’s temple) and to be close to God (his heart and flesh cry out for Him).
He has found the temple to be a place filled with praise for God and those
who are present and worship God are blessed. The writer (possibly David) has
found that the wicked have nothing to offer in comparison to God and His
place of worship and that for those who abide in God they are richly
blessed.  What a wonderful Psalm to remind us how blessed we can be to go to
physical places like the church where God is worshiped. What an
encouragement is contained in these twelve verses for the heart that yearns
for God and cherishes His ordinances.

If God has blessed you with a home where you are very satisfied, then praise
Him. And if He hasn’t….praise Him anyway. And tomorrow….when you wake up
and are getting ready for church, my prayer is that you too would yearn to
be at church with God’s people, singing songs, reciting prayers, studying
God’s word….not because you have to or it is because of what you do, but
because your heart cry all week has been to be close to God and He has
answered your prayer, and now you are ready to go and praise Him with His
people. How much better it is to be in church than a thousand other places!

For Him,

Rob