2005-03-13 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

Psalm 84

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

1. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

How truly friendly are Your houses of worship, O Lord. They shine in great contrast against the unfriendly tents of worldliness and sin. Lord, wherever You are worshipped, wherever You are invited to dwell, in that place is comfort and peace.

2. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD:

To ears that haven't yet been reborn, these words sound so strange, but they're evidence to an understanding of grace. The courts of the Lord; the meeting place of believers. Have you ever been having "one of those days," and you just feel the need to pick up the phone and get a "pickup" from a believer on the other end of the line? Have you ever spent time away from people who understand grace, and you feel weak, like you're rotting on the inside, and you yearn to be back in fellowship with the saints? Have you ever been recharged by being around the body of Christ? If you have, then you know why the Psalmist went on to write...

...my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

It's not enough to come to a church building. The Thing that strengthens our soul, that nourishes us like no food can; it is the presence of the Spirit of God. It's being around people who give honor to God with more than just their lips.

3. Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, 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.

It sounds like king David may have written this psalm while on the run and hiding in a cave (see Ps 61 and 63). Living from day to day, from meal to meal, without posessions, but living in the presence of the Lord; David knew that it's better to live like a bird there, than it is to live as a king in a palace far away from Him.

4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

To be a Levite in that day; dwelling in His house; the serving and the praising were daily chores, and today it is the same for us. If He is our King, and our God, then our days belong to Him, our "posessions" belong to Him, and our lives belong to Him. Blessed, happy are they. Selah.

5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Jesus said (2 Cor 12:9) that His strength is made perfect in weakness, that His grace is sufficient for the thorns, the discomforts of this short life.

Blessed are you who find your strength is in Him.
Blessed are those who see, who become aware of His strength in your weakness.
Almost blessed are those who stand scratching their heads at how God is working through you. Blessed are you whose bodies find the strength, the ways to be here today through your love for Him.
Blessed are you who take pleasure, who delight in your lack of strength, in the criticism and harms you receive, in straits, in anguish and affliction, all for the glory of Jesus, and that His power may rest upon you (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
Blessed are those who delight to do His will, they...

6. Who passing through the valley of Baca (the valley of weeping) make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.

We've all met folks who don't pass through the valley of Baca, but decide to take up residence there. (Constant complainers like me.) When I walk through the valley of Baca, I usually sit down and cry angrily, "Why me Lord?" When I finally wipe the tears from my eyes and look up, God is there. He's handing me a shovel and saying, "Dig." He promised never to leave me nor forsake me, but He never promised that I wouldn't need to work, that I wouldn't need a shovel.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We can enter the valley of weeping, pitch our tent, build our house, or even construct us a fortress of self-pity there. We can enter the valley, knowing that we're only passing through, knowing that eventually we will reach the other side, and just continue on our journey. But, God is telling us here, "Blessed are they who find their strength in the Lord, and try to make the valley a little easier for the next traveller passing through.

We can dwell on tragedy, and remain as a pollution, as a well of bitterness in the valley of Baca.
We can slough off the skin of tragedy and leave it where nobody can benefit.
Or, we can make the tragedies, the valleys of weeping, a well that the rains will fill.

Unless you've been down that same road as someone else, it's very difficult to help them through the valley of weeping. Unless you've already wiped away those tears and taken the shovel that God handed you, and unless you actually put it to work, it's impossible to give someone else directions to the pools of water in that dry, dusty valley. Blessed are you who make it a well, because the next traveller may need it. Blessed are they who make it a well, for...

7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
8. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
10. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11. 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.
12. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.