The Blessing of the Lord’s Presence: Psalm 84

Thomas Schreiner–

[This is a series of posts in preparation for Christmas. Read Part 1 here.]

What is one of the defining characteristics of our age? Boredom. Many people, including many young people, are no longer enchanted by anything. They think they have seen and done it all. If Christmas excited them once, it doesn’t anymore. The presents they receive don’t excite them, for nothing surprises them anymore. And even if something new interests them for a while, the newness soon wears off and boredom returns. Mystery, wonder, enchantment, and excitement are experiences that are far from them. Many have experimented with everything. They try drugs, alcohol, and sex to break out of boredom. Rule-breaking is a way to relieve boredom, but the problem is that even rule-breaking gets boring. The joy and excitement which comes at first with breaking the rules vanishes over time. What was thrilling at first becomes commonplace.

If we read the Scriptures we are not surprised. The Bible tells us that this is exactly the way it will be. For joy and radiance and excitement in life will only be sustained by God’s presence. What makes life thrilling and vital is a relationship with God. Other people and other things are wonderful gifts from God, but if they become the center of our existence we will get bored. Nor is our relationship with God static. We must renew it daily. We need fresh experiences of his grace and fresh outpourings of his Holy Spirit.

Psalm 84 beautifully describes the glory and joy of God’s presence. Seeing God and knowing God and loving God are what make life worth living. If your life lacks joy, purpose and radiance, the answer to your need is in Psalm 84. Indeed, we all need what we find in this Psalm, for every day we need to see God afresh. Before we look at Psalm 84, I want to set the scene a bit and provide a context so we can understand how the Psalm relates to us as Christians.

Background to Psalm 84

This week before Christmas we are looking at some of the Psalms from Book 3: Psalms 73-89. The Psalms were shaped and organized a certain way. Like the first five books of Moses, they are organized into five Books:

Book 1 is Psalm 1-41

Book 2 Psalms 42-72

Book 3 Psalms 73-89

Book 4: Psalms 90-106

Book 5 Psalms 107-150.

I am suggesting that the Psalms in Book 3 describe Israel in exile. Babylon took Israel into captivity in 586 BC. The people weren’t in the land the Lord promised them, and they couldn’t worship in the temple. Indeed, the temple was destroyed. Psalm 84 beautifully describes the joy of pilgrimage to the temple. It is a pilgrimage that isn’t even possible until Israel is restored and the temple rebuilt. The rebuilding of the temple is crucial, for the temple is where the Lord specially dwelt with Israel, and the psalmist longs to be in the Lord’s presence again.

Death: Gateway to Life with Christ

But what does this Psalm teach us as Christians? We are not literally in exile as the Jews were. Nor do we worship the Lord at the temple. As I said in my last post, we are not in exile because of our sin, and yet we are spiritual exiles and sojourners. This world is not our home. We are foreigners, exiles, and strangers in this world. For many people this world is all there is. We can understand, then, why so many are desperate to preserve their lives. They absolutely dread death, for they believe there is nothing beyond this life. They have sunk all their dreams and hopes into this life. This world is their heaven. But things are remarkably different for us as believers. As Christians we don’t fear death for it is the gateway to life with Christ forever. Death itself may be painful and it is hard to leave loved ones behind, but when we walk through that door we enter the gates of paradise.

New Heavens and Earth

That brings me to another way Psalm 84 speaks to us as Christians today. When we consider the message of the Scriptures as a whole, the temple points forward to the hope of the resurrection, to the new heavens and the new earth. The new heavens and the new earth are described in Revelation 21-22 as a heavenly temple. Just as Adam served in a garden temple in Genesis 1-2, the whole universe will be God’s temple (Rev 7:15-17; 21:1-22:5), where God will dwell with his people. Revelation 21-22 describes the new creation which is coming, and it is filled with many allusions to Ezekiel 40-48 where Ezekiel detailed the building of the new temple. John is telling us that the world to come is a new temple, the place where God lives. John clearly teaches that there is not a literal temple in the new heaven and new earth. The Lord and the Lamb are the temple in the new creation. “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (21:22).

The glory of the temple in Jerusalem always pointed to a greater glory, the glory of God and the lamp of the Lamb (21:23; 22:5). God will tabernacle with his people and will fully and finally fulfill the covenant promise to be our God. “Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (21:3). Just as in the OT the greatest joy of the temple was God’s presence, so in the new creation what refreshes human beings is seeing God’s face. As Rev. 22:4 says, they will see his face.”

So, as Christians we don’t take pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem. But we are on a pilgrimage as well. We are on a journey to the new heavens and the new earth which is the Lord’s temple. We long to see God’s face and to praise him forever. That brings us to our passage for today: Psalm 84.

Psalm 84

When we analyze Psalm 84, I suggest that it is split up by the two Selah’s which are found in v. 4 and v. 8. So, the Psalm has three sections, vv. 1-4, vv. 5-8, and vv. 9-12. The main point in each section is introduced by the word, “Blessed.” The statements of blessing appear in v. 4, v. 5, and v. 12. I take it that these are the three main points of the Psalms. So, the first section (vv. 1-4) is summed up by v. 4: how blessed are those who dwell in God’s presence. The second section vv. 5-8 is summed up by v. 5: how blessed are those who find their strength in God. The third section (vv. 9-12) is summed up by v. 12: how blessed are those who trust in the Lord. Let’s look at these sections and themes one at a time.

(1) Blessed are those who dwell in God’s presence

We read in v. 4, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.” So, we get our first truth from this verse. How blessed are those who dwell in God’s presence. What a joy it is to sing his praise. God’s house for the Psalmist stands for the temple, but as Christians we look forward to the new universe where God will dwell in his heavenly temple. And even now as believers we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God himself dwells in us. Yes, God himself makes his residence in us.

One of my favorite stories is about a literature class I took at University. The professor was an unbeliever. He identified himself as a skeptic and had a mistress. It was an advanced elective of about twenty students, and he asked one day if there were any Christians in the class. A few of us raised our hands. He asked if we believed in the devil, and we said yes. Then he asked if we believed God lived in us as believers, and we said yes. And in his deep and learned voice, he said. “How wonderful it must be every day for God to live in you.” “That must be thrilling to have God in you.”

Now he didn’t believe a word of it, but the Lord impressed on me afresh that day how true his words were. How blessed we are as believers to be temples of the Holy Spirit and to ever sing the Lord’s praise. The Lord’s praise was sung in the temple every day. And it will be sung in the new creation every day. And it will never get boring! We won’t tire of singing the Lord’s praise. There will always be fresh vistas of the Lord to see. The Lord who created oceans, waterfalls, and mountains will, so to speak, entertain us with his wonders. So, we won’t praise him because we are supposed to or because we are commanded to. We will praise him because we will be overwhelmed with his beauty and power and majesty. Think of the last thing you praised: a team you love, a meal you made, a person you love, or music you listened to. You weren’t forced to praise. The praise was spontaneous and natural, and our praise will be like that on the last day. But such praise is not limited to the future, for even now as Christians we enjoy God’s presence. Even now we sing his praises. The Lord is with us and dwells in us by his Spirit.

Verse 1 explains why it is a blessing to dwell in God’s presence. It explains why we ever praise our God. The reason given is that the Lord’s dwelling place is lovely. Why is it lovely? Because God is present! And God is lovely. The psalmist thinks of the temple. But for us God’s temple is Jesus Christ. As John 1:14 says, “The word became flesh and tabernacled or templed among us.” There is an attractiveness and a beauty in Jesus Christ that compels us to see his loveliness. We sing “fairest Lord Jesus.” He is fairer than (more beautiful than) the sunlight and the moonlight. When we speak to unbelievers our hope and prayer is that they will see Jesus Christ. When people ask: is Christianity true? we say, “Consider Jesus Christ.” There is no one like him. As Jesus said to Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father.

If there is no greater blessing than being in God’s presence, then we understand v. 2. “My soul longs, yes faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” For the psalmist the courts of the Lord stand for the temple. Remember he is in exile and the temple is destroyed, and he longs to be in God’s presence again. The message for us is clear. Nothing brings more joy than God’s presence, for he is the living God. We worship the one true God. And he is no figment of our imagination. This is not a supercharged experience disconnected from reality. Our God is living and active and rules over all. We rightly emphasize that doctrine is important. Theology matters. Truth is foundational. And we emphasize the importance of rightly interpreting Scripture. But such things are vanity and produce pride if they don’t lead to fellowship with God. Doctrine is intended to lead us to a person, to an experience with God.

Why does the author mention sparrows and swallows in v. 3? We have to remember that this is poetry. Sparrows making nests in the temple at one level is quite insignificant. So, why does he mention sparrows here? I think the truth is this: If insignificant birds find rest and protection in God’s presence, then how much more is that true of us. All of creation depends upon God’s favor. Notice in v. 3 how the psalmist addresses the Lord: MY king and MY God. Not THE king and THE God, but MY king and MY God. If you are a believer, the Lord is YOUR king. The Lord is YOUR God. The sovereign ruler of the entire universe is your God. There is no greater blessing than this.

(2) We are blessed if our strength is God.

Verses 5-8 describe a pilgrimage to the temple. Those who are far from Zion travel to Jerusalem and to the temple to reside in God’s presence. In v. 8 the psalmist entreats God to hear his prayer, to pay heed to him. I take it the prayer is that he will arrive safely in Jerusalem so he can worship God in the temple. We see the main point in v. 5. Believers are blessed if their strength is in God.

I am often reminded how weak I am. Sometimes people say, “You are a seminary professor, you have been a Christian a long time, and you have studied the Bible your whole life. You must be a strong Christian.” The answer is: no. I am as weak and dependent every day as a little child. I have no reserves of strength. All of us need fresh outpourings of God’s grace every day.

Verse 5 also says we are blessed if the highways to Zion are in our heart. Obviously, the language is poetic. There aren’t literal highways in our hearts. He refers here to the aspiration of the heart. Blessing belongs to those who long to be in God’s presence more than anything else. They dream about going to Zion. They dream about the presence of God.

Verse 6 continues the poetic language. I take it again that what is described here isn’t literal. For pilgrims don’t do what v. 6 says. They don’t make deserts a place where there are springs of waters bubbling up. The psalmist portrays a spiritual experience. The word Baca means weeping. If God is our strength, the places of weeping in our lives become a place of springs. I certainly found this to be true when my wife, Diane, was injured. God was my strength. We wept over what happened to Diane, and yet we also found that it was a place where we were watered. It wasn’t because we were strong. It is because so many were praying: “Lord, be the Schreiner’s strength.” Isn’t this an amazing verse? What a testimony to the grace of God. The place of weeping can become a place of joy and fruitfulness. The Lord grants streams in the desert. He sustains us in a dry and weary land where there is no water. And so we “go from strength to strength.” I take it we go from strength to strength because we recognize every day our weakness. After all, Paul teaches us in 2 Cor 12 that God’s strength is manifested in our weakness. The final goal is unfolded in v. 7: to appear before God in Zion, to make it to the temple. But for us the final goal is the new heavens and the new earth, the new world which will be God’s temple. Then we will be in God’s presence and the Lamb’s presence forevermore.

(3) We are blessed if we trust in the Lord.

The third blessing is relayed in v. 12. We are blessed if we trust in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord is not a burden or a pain but a blessing. Sometimes people might think, “Oh, those poor Christians they have to work so hard to be good people.” That must be really hard on them. They must get tired of trying so hard every day to be good. But they don’t really understand Christianity if they think that. For one thing our goodness doesn’t save us. God demands perfection, and we have all fallen short of his standard. We can’t be good enough to do what God demands. In other words, we are all failures.

How are Christians different? They admit they are failures. They admit that they haven’t measured up. How do you know if God will let you into heaven? Well, he will let you in if you have tried to be good and done the right thing most of the time, right? WRONG. If you think that, you don’t know the gospel! But it isn’t enough to admit you are a failure and that you have rebelled against God and disobeyed him. That alone doesn’t save you. Many unbelievers say they are failures too. But Christians take one more step. We put our trust in Jesus Christ to save us. We don’t trust in our goodness but in the perfect life of Jesus Christ. We trust that Jesus Christ has forgiven us by dying for our sins and by being raised for our justification. We admit we have failed and we ask Jesus to save us and to be our Lord.

How blessed it is to trust in the Lord. How blessed it is to recognize that salvation is of the Lord. And so it makes sense to pray the prayer of v. 9. “Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.” The psalmist was writing in his time and place. I think both the words “shield” and “anointed” refer to the king. The psalmist is praying. Lord, please show favor to our king. Lord, we are in exile. Act on our behalf. Raise up our king! Restore our nation!

But how do we pray this today? For now Jesus the Messiah has come. He reigns at God’s right hand. But here is where the part about us still being in exile comes in. Yes. Jesus reigns. But all things are not yet put under his feet. So, we too can pray. Lord, consider your Son, Jesus the Messiah. Lord, we are the people of the Messiah.

We are the ones trusting in him. So honor him Lord by vindicating us! Honor him by bringing in your kingdom. Meanwhile, we live in this world, waiting for the kingdom to come. But even while we are in exile, a day in God’s courts is better than a 1000 elsewhere. One day in the presence of God is more delightful, fulfilling, and satisfying than 10,000 days as a pagan. It is better to be a doorkeeper in God’s house than it is to dwell in the tents of the wicked. Isn’t that amazing? The lowliest saint in the world’s terms has it far better than the richest king who is a pagan. The bat boy who enjoys the presence of God is blessed far beyond the Babe Ruth’s of the world who don’t know God.

Have you ever gotten to know a famous pagan well? Well, even if you haven’t, you can read books about them, and often they are miserable despite their fame. They are often cranky, grouchy, critical, angry, and self-absorbed! Read Paul Johnson’s book, Intellectuals. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God! What a blessing it is to trust in God. What a joy to bask in his presence. He is a sun who warms us with his love. He is a shield who protects us from our enemies.

In addition, he gives us everything we need as v. 11 says. He doesn’t hold back anything good from us. Everything we need to be like Jesus. Everything we need to be holy. Everything we need to be sanctified. Everything we need to be conformed to the image of his Son he gives us. Everything! He doesn’t hold back any good thing. Do you struggle with the thought that there are some good things God is holding back from you? Well, I do. And so this promise helps me fight off the attacks of Satan. How blessed it is to trust in the Lord, for the Lord bestows favor and honor upon us as his children. What a blessing to enjoy the presence of God. What a blessing to know God is our strength. Let us ask God for the strength to trust in him. Amen.

Thomas Schreiner is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Among his many books are Romans, Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, Magnifying God in Christ: A Summary of New Testament Theology, and Galatians.