A Psalm for the sons of Korah. You remember how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were destroyed because of their rebellion against the Lord, and their revolt against his chosen servant, Moses and Aaron, and you, no doubt, recollect how it is recorded that «the children of Korah died not.» Why they were spared, we cannot tell, except that it was an act of sovereign grace; and if so, I can understand why they were afterwards selected to be among the chief singers in the house of the Lord, for who can sing so sweetly to the God of grace as the men who have been saved by his sovereign, distinguishing grace This Psalm is «for (or, of) the sons of Korah.»
«Who can praise the blessed God,
Like a sinner saved by grace?
Angels cannot sing so loud,
Though they see him face to face;
Sinless angels ne'er can know
What a debt saved sinners owe.»
Psalms 84:1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!
The outer portions and the inner parts as well, how lovely they all are!
To be among thy people, to have sweet fellowship with them, how delightful it is, «O Lord of hosts Thou dwellest in thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts, like a king in the center of his army, and thy people encamp round about thee!
Psalms 84:2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD:
Those children of God, who have been for even a little while exiled from the court of the Lord, prize them all the more when they get back to them.
Psalms 84:2. My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
There gets to be so deep a longing to appear once more in the house of the Lord that even this clay-cold flesh of ours, which with difficulty becomes warm towards good things, at last melts, and joins in the common cry of the believer's whole being: «My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.»
Psalms 84:3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,
She is such a bold bird that she comes and picks up a crumb or two even in the courts of God's house; so, Lord, let me be one of thy sparrows today:
« Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,»
Psalms 84:3. And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
God's house is dear to us for the benefit that it is to ourselves, but it is still dearer to us for our children's sake, as a nest where we may lay our young. What a double mercy it is when young people love to come with their parents to the house of God!
Psalms 84:4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
The psalmist felt that those who were always in the house of the Lord must always be full of music. I am afraid that it is not so in all cases, yet it should be so.
Psalms 84:5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.
The man, who throws his whole heart and soul into his worship of the Lord, and his service for the Lord, is the man who gets the greatest blessing out of the holy exercises in which he takes part. Half-hearted worshippers are an insult to God, but blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord of hosts, and whose heart is in his ways.
Psalms 84:6. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
If they pass through valleys that are dreary and gloomy, they find them to be a benefit and a blessing, for they get refreshments on the road, and help to cheer other travelers also.
Psalms 84:7-8. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
David cannot go up with the multitude that keeps holy day; as, feeling like Jacob when he was all alone at the brook Jabbok, like him he wrestles with God for a blessing. You can hear him crying out in the wilderness: «O Jehovah God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob,» and he, who heard the prayer of lonely Jacob by the brook-side, hears the cry of David, and the cries of all his children who cannot join the great assembly of worshippers of God.
Psalms 84:9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
Jesus is the «shield» of his people, and he is «anointed» for his people and there is, in Jesus, so much of all that is good that, when the Father looks upon us in him, he can see goodness even in us poor sinners, for the goodness of Christ overflows to us, and is accounted ours.
Psalms 84:10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.
Of course, the psalmist means that a day in God's courts is better than a thousand spent anywhere else. See how he contrasts nearly three years with a single day, and he might have gone even further, and said, «Better be one day with God than a thousand years without him.» He gives us another contrast as he goes on to say:
Psalms 84:10-12. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
May all of us know that blessedness, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.