PSALM 84 Reading Guide

Transcription

1 PSALM 84 Reading Guide

2 PSALM 84 2 PSALM 84 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. 8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

3 PSALM 84 3 DAY 1 Read through Psalm 84 once writing down what you find interesting, what you find helpful, and what you don t fully understand. According to the introductory notes in the ESV Study Bible, This is a psalm celebrating a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to worship at the temple. Read through the notes on Psalm 84 in the ESV Study Bible. Write at least one paragraph highlighting what you learned from the study notes. Reread Psalm 84, personalizing the Psalm as your own prayer. Write out that prayer. DAY 2 Read Psalm 84 again. Psalm 84 celebrates the loveliness of Jerusalem, not as a place, but as the place where God himself dwells (verse 1). Jerusalem is great because God is there. List the each name the Psalmist uses for God and the various words and phrases he uses to describe God. Using that list, describe the Psalmist s feeling toward God. Write down the reasons you have similar feelings toward God. John Newton in his hymn How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds expresses similar affection for God. How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believers ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear. It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms the troubled breast; Tis manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary rest. Dear Name! the Rock on which I build, My Shield and hiding place, My never-failing Treasury filled With boundless stores of grace; Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King, My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, Accept the praise I bring.

4 PSALM 84 4 Weak is the effort of my heart, And cold my warmest thought; But when I see thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought. Till then I would thy love proclaim With ev ry fleeting breath; And may the music of thy Name Refresh my soul in death. Write out a prayer to Jesus, praising him for the ways and reasons you find him lovely. DAY 3 Read Psalm 84 again, focusing on verses Often, it can be helpful to use a small portion of Scripture for prayerful meditation. Pastor Tim Keller describes meditation (or contemplation) as one kind of prayer we can pray using the Scriptures. Meditation is actually a middle ground or blend of Bible reading and prayer. I like to use Luther's contemplative method that he outlines in his famous letter on prayer that he wrote to his barber. The basic method is this to take a Scriptural truth and ask three questions of it. How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? Adoration, confession, and supplication. Luther proposes that we keep meditating like this until our hearts begin to warm and melt under a sense of the reality of God. Often that doesn't happen. Fine. We aren't ultimately praying in order to get good feelings or answers, but in order to honor God for who he is in himself. 1 Spend some time meditating on verses 11-12, using the Luther s three questions (mentioned above): How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? Use your answers to the above questions to craft your prayer to God. DAY 4 Read Psalm 84 again, focusing on the journey to Jerusalem to worship God. Though we don t journey to Jerusalem today, we do travel from our homes to church each Sunday to worship God with his people. 1 Keller, Tim. Scraps of Thoughts on Daily Prayer. Found at on February 16, 2013.

5 PSALM 84 5 Read through the Psalm again, noting the challenges the pilgrim faces in their journey as well as the reasons those challenges pale in comparison to the joy they experience when gathered in Jerusalem to worship God with this people. Think of some of the challenges you are facing right now. Think about how those challenges are put in perspective as you gather with God s people to worship him. Write down some of the ways that the anticipation of worshiping God with his people can help you in the midst of those challenges. Write out a prayer to God, thanking him for the gift of worshiping him with his people. Ask him to help you prepare for the Sunday worship service at your church. DAY 5 Read through Psalm 84 twice. Write out at least two paragraphs reflecting on what you ve learned about God, yourself, and others from Psalm 84. Write out at least one thing you hope to apply to your life from Psalm 84. Spend at least 15 minutes sharing what you wrote with a trusted friend or family member. If they read Psalm 84 this week, ask them to do the same. End your time in prayer, thanking God for what he taught you this week. * Purchasing an ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008.) will aid you in your understanding of the Psalms. The first day s reading each week assumes you will have access to the notes in the ESV Study Bible. The ESV Study Bible is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published. It will help you understand not just the Psalms, but also the rest of the Bible in a deeper way. You can either buy the Bible (amazon.com, search: ESV Study Bible) or purchase online access to the notes at Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved Elliot Grudem.