Is there some place that you have been wanting to go to for years, some place that you would give anything to visit? Perhaps you’ve really been wanting to go visit Hawaii or perhaps to England, and the opportunity never came about, either for financial or health reasons. Perhaps the place you have been wanting to go has been to take a long trip to visit some friends or family you haven’t seen in awhile. How about going to church, and being in a place to worship the Lord God? What?! If there was one place somebody could go to, how many would choose going to church? As we read our psalm today, we find that is the one place the psalmist wants to be, in the house of worship. Let’s take a look.
As our psalm opens the author expressed to us how deeply he longed to be at the tabernacle, worshiping God (vs. 2). He longed, he fainted, his heart cried out to be with God in worship. Compare that with how many of us feel about going to church. We have hundreds of excuses all lined up and ready to use to keep from going. We’re too tired! Sunday is our only day to sleep. We have loads of ailments, some of them legitimate, but so many that wouldn’t keep us from going anywhere else. Yet here our psalmist was, longing, fainting, and crying out to be in the place of worship.
His desire was so great that he even envied the birds who were able to nest by God’s tabernacle (vs. 3). Solomon’s Temple was built during the 10th century BC. Prior to the great Temple building of Solomon in Jerusalem, the Ark of the Covenant was kept in the Tabernacle, in tents, primarily in the city of Shiloh, until the time of David, when it was moved to Jerusalem. Depending on when this psalm was written, the psalmist could be referring to either the tents containing the Tabernacle, or the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. Birds could easily fly in and out of tents and build their nests there, or they could easily build a nest in some rooftop corner of the Temple. Either way they would be close to the Lord, and that was where the psalmist wanted to be.
As our psalm continues, the author described the pilgrimage, the journey he took to worship at God’s altar (vs. 5-7). If he was traveling to the pre-temple location in Shiloh, that location was just under 20 miles north of Jerusalem. More likely he was traveling to Jerusalem. Depending on his home location, the journey could be long and possibly dangerous. The days could be quite hot, the nights chilly. There could be roaming bandits, and possible encounters with some dangerous animals. And the trip was often taken on foot, or if lucky, on the back of a donkey or mule.
He described the trip as going through the Valley of Baca (vs. 6). The word “baca” means weeping. The psalmist’s spiritual journey was often through a valley of weeping, a valley of tears. There are times of struggle and tears through which we often must pass on our way to meet God. Growing strong in God’s presence is often preceded by a journey through difficult times, or barren and desert times, just like the pilgrimage the psalmist made to God’s Temple. However, our psalmist turned that difficult and barren journey into a festival of worship. He turned the valley of weeping into a place of joy in the Lord.
When the psalmist arrived at the Temple or Tabernacle of the Lord he took notice of the Temple workers, and desired to be one of them (vs. 10). Not only did he envy the birds, whose nests are by God’s altar, but he also had some envy for even the doorkeepers of the Temple. Being a doorkeeper is not a grand job. We see them at some fancy hotels or apartment buildings. They hold the door open for the wealthy to enter, a rather humble position. However, he would rather have that job at the Temple, than any more prestigious position somewhere else. That way he would be in the courts of God every day. A few moments in the presence of God is greater than anything Satan or the world would have to offer a thousand times over. A humble place of service with God is better than an exalted position of power or fame in the world without Him.
The psalm closes with a promise that the Lord will be our sun and shield, and bless us with grace and glory (vs. 11). God’s promise to provide here has a condition. It is given to those who walk uprightly. We need to make sure that there is no unrepented and unconfessed sin in our life, and that we are walking with Jesus, obeying His Word.
Until man finds God, and God’s dwelling place, they will have no real home. That home can only be found by trusting in Jesus Christ. Since God did not spare His only Son for us, why would He withhold anything good and needful for us? So once we are a part of His family, He will bless us with grace and glory, and be our sun and shield.
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