Where do you long to be? Perhaps when you are on a long journey in the dark, on twisty roads, you just long to be safely home. Maybe you long to be with loved ones. In Psalm 84, the psalmist doesn’t hide where he wants to be. He longs to be with the LORD almighty, and until the day that he gets to be with God, he longs to just meet with God’s people in God’s place. He writes “How lovely is your dwelling place” and he longs to be there. He remembers the altar (psalm 84:3) the place of sacrifice so that his sin can be forgiven, he loves the place where his relationship with the Lord can be restored.
For us that place is in Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice for our sin so that we no longer have an altar. Oh how we should delight in him. In our reading from John 7, Jesus says he offers living water, he offers to meet our deepest need. How often we look elsewhere and drink from other places, but Jesus reminds us, those things won’t ultimately satisfy. Long for him, He alone can restore you.
As the psalmist considers how wonderful it is to meet with God, he begins thinking about the journey to get there. How do the pilgrims find strength for the journey? They must pass through the valley of Baca (v6), a dry valley, but perhaps also a place of tears, some translations say:
“They make the vale of tears a spring,
with showers of blessings covering” (v6)
Doesn’t this describe the Christian’s journey to our true home with God? We face hard places, places of tears, and yet we know the one who is ready to shower us with His blessings. The one who offers living water for the journey and who will get us safely home. He gives us the grace and the strength for each step of the way. Our blessing is tied up in Jesus, which is why the Psalmist prays for the Lord’s anointed (v9), for what happens to the king affects all His people. If the king prospers so do His people. Our Lord Jesus suffered death for us, and rose again offering to share his victory with us.
The psalmist ends the Psalm by singing how great it is to meet with God’s people in God’s place. It is a foretaste of how good it will be to be with the Lord forever. As the psalmist considers how good it is to be with God, it helps him in his fight against sin. Sin offers short term pleasure, but it offers nothing compared to being with the source of eternal pleasure. Where are you tempted to “dwell in the tents of wickedness”? Do you see it offers nothing compared to being with God and His people? The psalmist says that he’d rather have the humblest job in God’s kingdom (a doorkeeper) than all the earthly treasures with wickedness. God doesn’t withhold anything that would be for our good, you can trust Him.
Lord God, we long for you, but help us to long for you more. Help us to love meeting with your people each Lord’s Day and to see this as a foretaste of how good it will be when we are with you forever. Help us on the journey as we face the vale of tears, may we trust that you have blessing for us even in the tears. Please use the tears to wean us from this world, to make us long for you more. Help us to believe that a day with you is better than a thousand elsewhere, Amen.
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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