Bible Reading: Psalm 84
“O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” (Psalm 84:12)
Psalm 84 celebrates the blessedness of those who look towards worshipping God in His temple. Yet, at the same time, it is a cry for such an attitude to be shaped in both the psalmist’s and our hearts.
This lockdown has taken a significant toll on our spirituality and walking with God. If we look back to the beginning of this year, we can see how much we have declined since being away from the Lord’s house. What we must learn is this.
Firstly, the physical church community is a vital spiritual grace that we cannot take for granted. Often we think that it will be around forever and that our faith journey will always move forwards without any fallbacks. We cannot be so insolent to demand such a continuous grace from God because, in reality, we don’t deserve the slightest droplet of grace.
Secondly, we must learn to trust in God and have a heart that cries for total dependence on Him. This psalm celebrates how the one who trusts in God longs to worship God and continually praise Him in His house. It also celebrates how those who trust God can walk through all the highways and shadows of life and sow peace and light amidst the darkness because God is their continual strength.
Yet in the cry, “O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!” (Psalm 84:8-9), we find how the psalmist longs for such blessedness to be their own.
We must admit how much we lack to trust God. We love our own ways, and we love pursuing our own idols and desires. Yet, the truly blessed one is the one who walks with God and continually trusts and obeys Him. The truly blessed one is the one who longs for God’s presence and the gathering of God’s people where they can worship and serve God together.
To have such an attitude in our hearts is a divine grace from God. No one can create a love for God in their own hearts unless God plants it in us. Our one hope and cry is to cry, “Behold our shield, O God”, as the psalmist cried.
Christ is our shield who has died for all our sins. In Him, we are fully justified and reconciled with God. In Christ, we are deemed and righteous and upright. And so, the promise in v. 11 is for us in Christ. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
May this be our cry for revival in these spiritually dry times.
Lord, please revive us once again. Stir in our hearts a love for You and a desire to walk with You and trust You. Forgive us for our slumber and our idolatry which we have brewed in our hearts. Lord, nothing is more blessed than trusting in You and worshipping You. Please restore us in Your mercy. Look upon Christ, our shield, who has clothed us in righteousness. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.
