Psalm 84:1–2 (ESV) … “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
In our verse, the psalmist expresses an envy of those who were always at the temple. The priest had such an enviable position in life. By way of their work and life, they were always around the presence of God.
The question for us, is there an intense longing to be in the presence of God? Do we long to be connected to our Lord God Creator? Do we desire to worship the Lord of host?
Roger Ellsworth says, “We will never feel like worshipping God until we understand something of his greatness, and we cannot help but worship once we do. In other words, there is a direct correlation between our conception of God and our desire for worship. The greater God is in our eyes, the greater will be our desire to worship him.”
Ellsworth goes on to point out and ask. What can we say of ourselves on this matter of desiring public worship? The sad fact is many who profess to know the Lord have very little or no appetite at all for worship.
It is obvious that many don’t have anything near the intensity of desire this psalmist expresses. What they lack in desire they make up for in excuses, and many of these are so absurd as to be almost unbelievable.
One of my fellow-pastors had a church member who refused to attend church because he claimed to be unable to sit on a pew for any length of time. But one day this pastor passed by the pool hall and noticed this gentleman sitting there. Three hours later the pastor went by the pool hall again and noticed the man sitting in the same place. The pastor, thinking the pool hall must have had some very comfortable seats, went inside. The only seats he found were old, unpadded church pews![1]
[1] Ellsworth, R. (2006). Opening up Psalms (pp. 59–60). Leominster: Day One Publications.
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