This week we come to Psalm 84, where we can see a deeper and sweeter feeling and revelation concerning the house of God.
There are other psalms which speak about the psalmists’ longing and appreciation of the house of God – like Psa. 26, 28, etc – but it is in Psalm 84 that we can see a deeper and a sweeter appreciation of the house.
The reason for this is that the psalmist has passed through some experience and his appreciation of God’s house has been deepened. Our experience of the house of God is in degrees, and our appreciation for God’s house increases as we grow in life and experience God.
A deeper and sweeter enjoyment of the house of God
There was a process through which the psalmist passed through, all the way from Psalm 26 to Psalm 84, and the experiences he had caused him to have a deeper and a sweeter enjoyment of the house of God.
Troubles come, disappointment comes, dissatisfaction comes, and all kinds of trying situations come – all these are a test to the seeking saints. When we come into the church life, we are in a honeymoon – we find heaven on earth!
All the brothers are “heroes” and all the sisters are “angels”. But after 6 months, these “heroes” may become “gophers” to us, and the “angels” may become “scorpions”… – we may not “like” some saints…
Why is this? Why is “the honeymoon” in the church life becoming “the vinegar moon” in the church life? All these situations and things are used by the Lord as a kind of a test to help us and to deepen our enjoyment and appreciation of the house of God.
Everything that we come into the church life naturally with needs to be stripped away from us so that we would become God’s house in resurrection, His enlargement on the earth.
The Lord uses all kinds of negative things happening around us to strip us of anything natural so that we may gain Christ. In this way, our experience of the house of God is made sweeter and deeper.
The purpose of our sufferings
In the case of Job in the Old Testament we see that he was a moral, upright, and righteous man, and even God boasted concerning him how good he was (Job 1:8, 2:3).
But God knew that Job was short of one thing – Job was righteous but he was short of God. This is why God allowed Satan to strip Job of his possessions, his family, and even his health – so that He may strip away all things other than God and reconstruct, remodel, and reconstitute Job with Himself.
Even though Job complained and murmured, trying to find a logical explanation to this sudden change in his situation, it is in the New Testament that we see why: it is God’s economy!
In God’s economy God wants that Christ would be our all in all – He is faithful to call us into the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9). But for Christ to be our all we need that all we have and are in our natural man would be stripped away.
We are full of ourselves, so natural, and with no element of Christ in us – we need to be reorganized, reconstituted, and remodelled with God!
This is why God allows things to happen in our life, things that are not so pleasant or sweet, so that we may be reconstituted with Christ and may enjoy Him only! He wants to strip us of our idols, our ambition, our self-confidence, and our self-sufficiency, that we may enjoy Him!
God is faithful to bring us in the fellowship of His Son
We are so easily distracted from God and we are so unfaithful to Him – we take many other things as our source of satisfaction and enjoyment and have no problem about it.
But God is faithful to call us into the fellowship of His Son (1 Cor. 1:9) – even though He may not “seem faithful” in the matter of taking care of our welfare.
The way God is faithful is NOT according to our natural understanding – He is faithful not in “blessing us with material things and much prosperity”, but He is faithful to take away anything that replaces Him in our life!
God is faithful to bring us deeper and higher in the enjoyment and experience of Christ and of the house of God!
Our career, our peace, our safety, our health, our possessions, etc – these may become idols to us, replacing God and not allowing Him the first place in us.
Therefore, God is faithful to take these things away so that He we might drink of Him as the fountain of living waters, the only source for our satisfaction.
In the church life it is the same thing – God strips us of anything natural and the church life becomes sweeter and deeper! We truly eat, drink, and breathe Jesus in the church life as God is faithful to strip us of our natural man and its issues.
The church life is something of Christ and Christ alone – we enter in the church through the cross and all natural things are left outside!
Thank You, Lord, for Your faithfulness to bring us deeper into the enjoyment of Christ. Lord, may we go on with You and experience You and the house of God in a deeper and a sweeter way. Save us from being shallow in our experience and enjoyment of Christ. Do what it takes, Lord, that we may be reconstituted with Christ for the church life. We simply want to cooperate with You in what You intend to do in us. We love You, Lord!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, ch. 15; The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Job, pp. 14-19, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 14.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord I want You to have Your way, / Save me from being Satan’s prey, / I am believing You. / All I can give to You, my Lord, / Is my whole being, love outpoured; / Lord, I belong to You.
# Fill me now! Fill me now! / Fill me with Thy Spirit now! / Strip me wholly, empty throughly, / Fill me with Thy Spirit now!
# Let us contemplate the grape vine, / From its life now let us learn, / How its growth is fraught with suff’ring, / Midst environment so stern… - Picture source: God is faithful.
