Pathways to a Blessed Life Reflections on Psalms

Pathways to a Blessed Life Reflections on Psalms & Proverbs Series, Part 2 Psalm 84: 1 -12 December 29, 2013 Pastor Paul K. Kim

Psalm 84 [ESV] To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. 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

Psalm 84 [ESV] 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

Psalm 84 [ESV] 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON PSALM 84 • It is a song set to be sung on the gittith by the sons of Korah who were the temple doorkeepers/janitors. • It is a psalm with diverse genres—i. e. , praise, lament, prayer, individual and communal psalm. • It is divided into three parts marked by “Selah” at the end of each section. • It is a wisdom psalm that reveals pathways that lead to a “blessed” life.

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 1) Pathway #1: Dwelling in the presence of God with longing. 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 (vs. 1 -4) Ø The psalmist sings about: (1) a passionate love of God’s house for a deep longing for worshipping God with God’s people. Ø For today’s believers, God’s presence is not about a physical place but about communing with God who indwells within us.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27: 4

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 1) Pathway #1: Dwelling in the presence of God with longing. 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 (vs. 1 -4) Ø The psalmist sings about: (1) a passionate love of God’s house for a deep longing for worshipping God with God’s people. Ø For today’s believers, God’s presence is not about a physical place but about communing with God who indwells within us. Ø This pathway leads us to the blessing of joyful vitality & rest in the living God.

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 2) Pathway #2: Seeking dependence & delight in God at all times. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah (vs. 5 -8) Ø It requires us first to embrace our own brokenness humbly. Ø “Highways to Zion” means a surrendered heart that delights in the LORD as the chief end of life.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3: 14 -19

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 2) Pathway #2: Seeking dependence & delight in God at all times. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah (vs. 5 -8) Ø It requires us first to embrace our own brokenness humbly. Ø “Highways to Zion” means a surrendered heart that delights in the LORD as the chief end of life. Ø This pathway leads us to the blessing of growing strength & abundant shalom given by God in all circumstances.

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 3) Pathway #3: Trusting in God for protection and provision with growing confidence. 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (vs. 9 -12) Ø God has become everything to the psalmist; so his trust in the LORD for protection and provision is also a learned faith. Ø We are also to grow our confidence in God by trusting in him.

This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Psalm 18: 2 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7: 11

WHAT ARE THREE PATHWAYS THAT LEAD US TO A BLESSED LIFE? 3) Pathway #3: Trusting in God for protection and provision with growing confidence. 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! (vs. 9 -12) Ø God has become everything to the psalmist; his trust in the LORD for protection and provision is also a learned faith. Ø We are also to grow our confidence in God by trusting in him. Ø This pathway leads us to the blessing of receiving God’s favor and honor along with his provision and protection.

The Soul’s Paradox of Love To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. . . “O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away. ’ Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. ” ― A. W. Tozer