“My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
~ Psalm 82:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you like to live in a country where it is unsafe to worship God openly with other Christ-follower guys, gals and kids? Would you like to live in a country where there is a possibility that the church that Christ-follower guys, gals and kids go to to worship God will be burned by non-Christ-follower guys and the guys, gals and kids who are in the church are murdered? Would you like to live in a country where you, your dad and ma are the only Christ-followers in the country? When God – as God the Father, about 3500 years ago, gave His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, a new worship paradigm that included laws, sacrifices and feasts that He expected them to obey, God – as God the Father, also gave them the blueprint for a temple where He expected them to go to to worship Him. Until Solomon built the temple that his dad – who was David, wanted him to build in the city of Jerusalem where God’s presence could reside and where He was to be exclusively worshipped, God’s specially chosen guys and gals – other than for the temple, for over 500 years had no other place to go to to worship God. About 300 years after Solomon built in the city of Jerusalem one of the most impressive, ornate structures that has ever been built – a temple where God’s divine presence would reside and where He was solely worshipped, an Assyrian despot – who was Sennacherib, ravaged the land area of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Psalm 84 may have been written because of Sennacherib’s strict order that God’s specially chosen guys and gals could no longer go into their temple that was in the city of Jerusalem to worship while being in the presence of their God. A displaced Levi tribal clan temple servant – who had been barred from going into the temple that was in the city of Jerusalem where he possibly had a temple assignment – possibly as a doorkeeper, may be who wrote this gittith lament. A gittith may be a musical instrument that may have been indigenous to the town of Gath or it may be a melody or a march that was specific to the town of Gath. Gath was one of five key towns that were located in the land area where the Philistine people group guys and gals lived. The Levi tribal clan author of this psalm song longs to experience again being in the warm, sweet nearness of God’s presence. The author of this psalm song acutely misses the daily access that he had to be near God’s presence. The author of this psalm song confesses his jealous anguish for the sparrows and swallows that had built their nests near the altar where he had once worshipped God.
You are living in a country where worshipping God is taken for granted. Structures that are called churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, etc. are found throughout the United States. Worship norms and mores depend on each community of likeminded belief adherents who meet in a place that is called a church, synagogue, temple. mosque or . . . your country allows you to make the choice of who, how, what and where you want to worship. Your grandpaa is convinced that guys, gals and kids are born with an innate urge to worship a spirit being. Your spiritual legacy extends from extended families who have worshipped a divine Being – Who is the God who the Levi tribal clan psalm song writer also worshipped. What if you were told that you could no longer worship the divine Being Who you believe created you – before He had formed the universe, from nothing in places where you have been accustomed to worship God? What if you were told that you had to worship in ways and in places that you know that God – as God the Spirit, will not manifest His presence? What if you were told that you had to purge out of your mind the mindset that you have now of being able to freely worship God through reading the Bible, singing praise songs to Him and meeting together with other likeminded Christ-follower guys, gals and kids?
After a guy, gal or kid has been prompted by God – as God the Spirit, to go to and through the faith/grace door into the body of Christ, the guy, gal or kid has begun his or her pilgrimage to Zion – which is the sacred place where God – as God the Father, is worshipped. The trek of a Christ-follower pilgrim will take the guy, gal or kid through an arid place which the psalm song writer calls the ‘Valley of Baca’. Christ-follower wayfarers need to know – per the psalm song writer, that they will traverse through stretches of spiritual dry times but that these dry times will lead the guy, gal or kid to ‘gentle, early showers’ which per the psalm song writer, are harbingers of the ‘later spring rains’ with these ‘later spring rains’ signifying pools of blessings. A Christ-follower guy, gal or kid may have to first go through a Sinai Desert experience – as did God’s specially chosen guys and gals, before he or she can experience the bountiful hand of God on his or her life. Once a Christ-follower guy, gal or kid experiences what it is like being in God’s presence such as what this psalm song author experienced – which he shares about in verse 2, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”, the guy, gal or kid who is a Christ-follower will have his or her bar set to want to have again that same kind of intimate relationship that he or she had with God. When your grandpaa was transferred by Beneficial Finance to Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1972, your grandmaa and grandpaa were led to attend the Aberdeen Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in a providential way. While attending Aberdeen Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, your grandmaa and grandpaa for the first time experienced God’s presence in a way that had your grandmaa and grandpaa wanting to attend every scheduled church service and planned church event. God expects you to unabashedly worship and praise Him, too.
Psalm 84 (913)