A Psalm Set To The Gittith

by R. DARKE, Vancouver | Category: General | Dec 1964

Psalm 84

This is the third of three psalms bearing the above heading. The first is Psalm 8, a psalm of David; the second is Psalm 81, a psalm of Asaph, while this one belongs to the group of psalms entitled "of the sons of Korah".

A psalm is a song of praise, and the thoughts which arise from this psalm are truly sweet and evoke praise. Each of its twelve verses produces a preciousness of its own, and we would seek to obtain help from some of the precious things unfolded by the psalmist. It is a thrice-blessed psalm:- "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house" (verse 4); "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee" (verse 5); and "Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee" (verse 12).

If this psalm reveals the experience of one of the sons of Korah in exile, yearning for God's dwelling-place, he would know something of bondage, with all its affliction, deprivation of liberty, suffering and sorrow, giving rise to this beautiful song, and it is from such like circumstances that some of the worthiest songs have arisen. Think of Paul and Silas, as recorded in Acts 16, after having many stripes laid upon them, thrust into the inner prison and their feet made fast in the stocks. Do we hear moans and groans coming from them, or cries of distress, or questionings, reasonings or appeals for deliverance? Ah no! We read, "But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God". Truly, as said Elihu in Job 35.10, God is He "who giveth songs in the night", a truth that Asaph too in his distress called to remembrance (Psalm 77.6). So from the prisoners in Philippi arose a song of joy, and what was the outcome? Souls were saved, disciples were made and a church of God planted in Philippi. What of our own similar experiences, yours and mine? Do we fret or do we submit to the gentle pressure of the Lord's loving hand in our lives? Do we yield to His all-knowing and all-wise pressure or do we resist? What ascends from us, the song or the groan? Heart-searching, is it not? A Christian girl once set her affection on the young man of her choice and she intended to marry him but the lad died before any of her hopes could be realized. She then chose to take up nursing, but after a while she lost the sight of both eyes. She was feeling the weight of God's hand. Did she rebel? Far from it! Despite her handicap she moved around freely, always remaining cheerful, and when people sympathized she told them with a smile of her great joy in the love of the Lord Jesus and the great things He had done for her.

As we read the psalm we seem to sense the vibration of the "inner man". "My soul longeth" cries the psalmist; "My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God". Walking the highways of Zion...going from strength to strength...praying...trusting! All for his God and the house of his God, here we have a man whose very being is drawn to and tied with the very cords of love to the divine dwelling-place. Oh, that we, as God's people today, were similarly in love with Him and the place where His glory dwelleth! How our hearts should rejoice in the realisation that we are God's and in the house of God, "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3.15).

Are we serving in God's house as though it were a mere obligation, a formality, forgetting the grace of God that has been bestowed upon us as it was upon the sons of Korah, who wrote this psalm? At the time of their rebellion against Moses and Aaron, as recorded in Numbers 16, their father, who was one of the leaders of the rebellion, perished in his sin, but in Numbers 26.11 we read, "Notwithstanding the sons of Korah died not", and as the writers of this psalm preserved by the grace of God from rebellion and judgement, they are here found dwelling in God's house and still praising Him (verse 4). May we too, as debtors to sovereign grace, be found in God's house working "heartily (Gk. from the soul), as unto the Lord... ye serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3.23, 24).

It is good to remember always that our affection for God and His house can never be too great, nor our estimation of it be too high. The psalmist says, "How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0 LORD of Hosts!" (verse 1). Amiable here does not mean merely friendly and nice, as we use it today, but carries the deeper thought of "well beloved". Some ask in regard to God's house as to whether its existence depends upon condition or position. The two are inseparable, and we would have no doubt about the matter if we were consumed with love to Him whose dwelling-place it is. What greater example of this can we find than that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who said, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up" (Psalm 69. 9, John 2.17, 22). Let us look into our hearts to see how deep our affections are for God's house.

In closing our few words on this psalm we would stress a most important truth brought out in verse 4.

"Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:

They will be still praising Thee [Selah]"

To "dwell" has the meaning of settling down to a quiet, contented life in God's house. It is for a lifetime. "Go up to Beth-el and dwell there", said God to Jacob (Genesis 35.1). This is His desire for all His people, and the faithful God who calls us will also keep us. Paul assures us of this when he wrote to the Corinthians, "God is faithful, through whom ye were called in the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1.9), and "If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2. 13). May the earnest prayer of our lives be that of David in Psalm 27.4,

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple".

Then shall we also be able to rejoice and say like the sons of Korah -

"For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,

Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84.10).

R. DARKE, Vancouver | Dec 1964
General