Desire for the Lord

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Scripture:

Psa. 84:1     How lovely is your dwelling place,
        O LORD of hosts!
Psa. 84:2     My soul longs, indeed it faints
        for the courts of the LORD;
    my heart and my flesh sing for joy
        to the living God.

Observation:

The Psalmist has experienced worship in the presence of the Lord. We hear the cry of the heart for one who has been in the dwelling place of the LORD of hosts. The passion or desire to be with the LORD becomes overwhelming and there is a sense or feeling of drawing this one back over and over again to the courts of the LORD. The experience of being in God’s presence evokes a response in which heart and “flesh sing for joy to the living God.”

Application:

There are times in life when I have been blessed to experience the presence of the Lord in a very powerful way. Psalm 34:8 says, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Once you have had that “taste” there is nothing else like it in this world and the desire to return over and over again can become overwhelming.

So much of our worship experience has to do with our own spiritual well-being. I am called into the very presence of Jesus and if I’m not attuned to him then I may not even recognize that he is there. This is when we become distracted by the elements of the worship service, instead of really experiencing the Lord.

I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry for the LORD today. My agenda is full from morning until night and yet, my hunger is to know the LORD. I need to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” If I don’t, then everything that I do is simply on my own power and I know that I have a very limited extent of resources. The Lord is my resource. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is the one who wraps his loving arms around me on a daily basis.

Yes, the dwelling place of the Lord is lovely and my desire is to be with him. No matter what comes of the day, I always want to come back to that place where I can be in gentle fellowship with him. This is the cry of the Psalmist and it is mine today as well. May his dwelling place be within me and may his presence be a constant reminder of the one my heart desires.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the sweetness of your presence and for continually drawing me back to that place.  Amen.

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