January 8, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in selections from Psalms? Here’s today’s reading:
Psalms 83-84 (NIV)
A song. A psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, do not remain silent;
do not turn a deaf ear,
do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
4“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
Reading my devotions today from David Jeremiah’s Turning Point.. it ran parallel to Pastor Peter’s sermon this morning as one of the key disciplines to not being deceived….the reading was titled ‘Guard your heart to be on your BEST behavior’. In the reading was this quote (and I quote) by the ‘brilliant Puritan, John Flavel’.
“ The keeping and right management of the heart in every condition is the great business of the Christian’s life”..
Psalms 83-84
Such a strong desire to dwell with God and a recognition of the power and care He bestows on His people.
Such wonderful promises! Our heart and our flesh should cry out to the living God. Our heart should yearn to be in his presence. How awesome that he will not withhold good things from us. We are to trust in only God. No one else. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand else where. I love that song that takes its words from this psalm.
How difficult it is for people who know and follow God to see the things of God overcome and not see God move in the way that He can and He has. Israel was suffering judgment at the hands of the nations mentioned here, but how hard it was for the ones in Israel who remained faithful. It was fitting for them as it is for us to cry out and ask God to act on our behalf. It is fitting to point to the things He has done and ask Him to do it again. But we also do not need to see victory to recognize His presence with us and with Him promising never to leave us or forsake us, we can face anything. And how precious was it for the people of Israel to recognize what the temple was…the place where the presence of God resided on the earth. So a lot was connected to the temple itself in seeking God and worshipping Him. And yet we as believers are in God’s presence any time we wish. We have access to His throne through Christ and His Spirit dwells within us. And yet the sentiments expressed in the Psalm is fitting, it’s just not about a place, but about our relationship with Him. I would like to say that the church is a fitting replacement, but the people are really the church. And the building is only special as a gathering place for them. But boy should we thirst for and seek the presence of God and the fullness we receive when we are in it!
Psalm 83-84 such joy we can find when we put our faith in him, it’s nice we can meet him anywhere or any time. Verse 11 he doesn’t promise to give us everything but what is good for us when we follow his ways. “Blessed is the man who trusts in you”.
“My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,”
I can envision David (or is it Gittith) walking in God’s temple and looking at the little birds near His altar.
“Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
Even one day as the most menial attendant in God’s House is far better than any position among the wicked of this world. How many have traded away their relationship the living God for money, or wealth, or fame, or “security.”
Amen, Amy!
Gittith was probably a musical instruction and it was the sons of Korah who wrote this Psalm. They were Levites who were members of the Kohathites. It was these clans who were responsible to carry certain elements of the temple, like the Arc of the covenant. At this point they were also involved in the worship in the temple.
Psalms 83-84
The beginning of Psalm 85 is still happening today, Israel’s enemies want to destroy them. I found it interesting that Lot’s descendants were the ones plotting to form an alliance against them. The psalmist wants them to perish and be dismayed so that they seek the name of the Lord. That is ultimately what God wants his enemies to do, to be dismayed and ashamed so they turn to Him, seek his face, and be saved. He loves all people, he wants no one to be lost.
Psalm 86: Our souls yearn greatly to be with the Lord in his dwelling place. When our trust is in God, we can live our lives praising Him and being strengthened during the difficult times, until that glorious day when we meet Him face to face. Better to be in God’s courts than anywhere else in the universe. Love the last verse: Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you!