Yahweh (Psalm 84)

There’s no place for insignificant people. Only the best are allowed.

There’s no place for the weak. Only the strong are noticed, let alone celebrated.

There’s no place for troubled people. Only those who have it together have a place.

There’s no place for people who make mistakes. Only those whose image is perfect are welcome.

In one way or another, this is what we hear from the world around us, our own shame, and the voice of the accuser. You’ve got to measure up, perform, and keep working, striving for love, joy, and peace.

So it’s no wonder many of us are often tired, mistreated, lonely, and longing. What other option is there when this is what the world says? No wonder we ache for home. No wonder we feel like exiles. We feel the pain and suffering that result from knowing that there is a home where we belong, yet, for the present, we cannot return there. This is compounded by a sense of guilt or shame from the knowledge that the cause of all this is sin.

Haven’t you known this longing, this exile? Haven’t you felt the weight of not measuring up? Haven’t you known the grief of being sinned against? Haven’t you known the crushing weight of your faults? Haven’t you known the fatigue of a journey that always winds through valley after valley, tear after tear? Haven’t you experienced going from weak to weaker? Haven’t you wondered where God is? Haven’t you been through the moment, day, year, or decade where God seems to ignore you?

What are we to do? 

The hope-bringing, strength-giving, restful word given to us in Psalm 84 counters the ways of the world and ushers us into the way of Jesus, who, rather than having a yoke of striving and weight, offers one that is light and leads us into love and joy and peace. The Israelites sang this song as they journeyed to Jerusalem to worship God and be near His presence. For those of us in Christ, we read and sing this song as we journey to the New Jerusalem, where we will not just be near God’s presence but will see Him face to face and know Him even as we are fully known.

In God’s house, God’s Kingdom, even the most insignificant creatures find a place. This is what our soul longs for, and from the beginning of this song from the Sons of Korah, we see that being in God’s presence is possible. Who are those who get to know this joy, this rest, this being in God’s presence? It is those who have the highways of Zion in their hearts. They follow the road, the way to God - Jesus the Son who is Himself the door and the way into God’s presence. But like Jesus, who journeyed through this world in love and obedience to the Father, we pass through our valley of tears. 

And yet, when we look at the sufferings of Christ, we find that the worst thing that could have happened to Him, His crucifixion, actually became a doorway of hope. The tears shed in Gethsemane watered the ground like rain to grow the faith of those God calls. The life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus prove that the worst things don’t have to be the last things that happen. In fact, for the believer, there is always more life coming than death, more hope than sorrow, more joy than weeping. Those who go with God go from one degree of glory to another, from strength to strength.

Which is why we should pray to Him. Which is why we should ask Him to consider Jesus, our shield, our Messiah, in whom we are hidden. We are co-heirs with Christ, which means that the Father should and will treat us the same way He treats His Son, as those to whom the Kingdom belongs. And what would God the Father possibly withhold from God the Son? So what would He withhold from you, who is clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the one who only ever walked uprightly?

Better is a day in the presence of a God like this than a thousand anywhere else. This is the place we long for, and more than that, we long for the God of that place. 

The place where...

Even a sparrow, the most insignificant, finds a home. And there are no insignificant people.

Even the weary, those who are broken and battered and faltering, find their rest.

Even a sinner like me, like you, finds a seat at the table.

Just a day in a place like that, where the pressure is off, and there is only love, joy, and peace - what could be better? So today and every day, come to Jesus, the friend of sinners, and find all your soul could ever need.