Can you say what the psalmist said in Psalm 84:1? He said, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts!" And then he adds, "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God."
Literally the word "amiable" means "beloved," a place where love abounds, and thus a place that is very pleasant and joyful, a place of fellowship and sweet communion with God. It presents the question as to whether we long to be there in covenant fellowship with God.
We sometimes think of the Old Testament saints as being more carnal than we are, because they did not have all the knowledge that we have today, since Christ had not yet come and died for our sins. We are inclined to think that, now that we have this knowledge, our faith is stronger. Actually, today we have far more clever and powerful enemies of the truth, and greater temptations to seek this world and what we call treasures and joy for the flesh. Therefore we need to take heed to the truth and put aside our conceit. We should find in our souls a longing to be with God and not against Him. We need to find the truth of this Psalm in our souls.
We do well to pray to our God that He make us more and more like the saint presented here, and others elsewhere in Scripture, as longing to have covenant fellowship with God. It means that we also pray that He will keep us from all the wickedness we are so prone to love and seek. We need forgiveness of our sins, but we also need deliverance from the acts of sin.
Ask yourself from time to time how interested you are in living with our holy, sovereign God. Do you really want to be with Him in His house of many mansions? Can you pray what the psalmist cried out for here in this verse?
Read: Psalm 42
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
1 Kings 2
1 Kings 3:1-2
Acts 5:1-42
Psalm 125:1-5
Proverbs 16:25
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Quote for Reflection:
"The main truth that parents must teach their children is God's redemption of them from their sins by the cross of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' blood, received and enjoyed through believing on Him. Every father and mother must be able and ready, having perceived the distress of the child and having carefully drawn out the confession of sin that burdens the child, to speak the gospel of grace to thechild's troubled heart." ~ David J. Engelsma, "As a Father Pitieth his Children."
