The Psalm of the Doorkeepers

Psalm 84

Rev. Min J. Chung

Sunday Worship Service, June 16, 2002

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, where she may have her young–a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. Hear my prayer, O Lord God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah. Look upon our shield, O God, look with favor on your anointed one. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good things does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. Welcome back if you have been away during the intercession time. I am very excited about the summer that is ahead. It seems like I might be the only one, but I am very excited. During the summer, on the Lord’s Day, we will look at Psalms. We’ve been doing that for probably the last three summers. There are 150 Psalms, so it will take a lot of summers to get through it all. I might be preaching to your grandchildren if you send them here and I am still alive.
  3. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers" called Psalm 84 the "choicest of the collections." He said, "If the 23rdbe the most popular, the 103rdthe most joyful, 110ththe most deeply experimental, the 51stthe most plaintive, this is one f the most sweet of the Psalms of peace." Psalm 84 is a longing for the presence of God. It is one of the Korahite psalms found in book 3. (There are 150 psalms that are divided into five sections.)
  4. In studying Psalms and Proverbs, I think they expose and show the mind and heart ofGod-fearersandGod-lovers. When we read Psalms, we can understand the thoughts of the godly man and see his mind and thought patterns that loves God. When you want to learn anything in life, we go to the experts and find out their emotions and vision. Therefore, if you want to love and fear God, then read Psalms and Proverbs. Theemphasis of Proverbsis themindof theGod-fearers. I believe theemphasis of Psalmsis more on theheartof theGod-lovers. So most of the Psalms are really prayer journals of the godly. Through them, we can learn how to pray especially when we go through difficult times. We can learn how reiterate their prayers, not necessarily in exact repetition ofwhatthey say, but in thecontent of their hearts.We can look into the hearts of some of the greatest saints that God used to write the Scriptures. Thekey in reading Psalmsis to try to capture theemotionof the Psalmist. For example, when he says, "yearns even faints",do I have that kind of yearning for God? What do I yearn for more? For food? For entertainment? For an opposite gender partner?We need to meditate and pray so that our yearning matches that of the psalm writer. Emotion is related to our hearts and what we care about, so enough time is needed try to capture the emotion of the psalm writers.
  5. This psalm can be divided into three sections. If you observe the psalm, there are threeselahsor interludes. After every four verses there is aselah. I have no idea how they sang this song, butselahis the part with the interlude music playing. The sections are: 1) The Blessed Yearning (v. 1-4); 2) The Blessed Strengthening (v. 5-8); 3) The Blessed Declaring (v. 9-12). The psalm starts with "blessed" and the third section ends in a blessing. It begins and ends in blessed/blessing. The thought pattern here is:if youyearnfor the blessing of God, then you will bestrengthened by God, and then you candeclare Godto others.
  6. BODY
  7. Blessed Yearning–v.1-4
  8. "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty." How lovely is God’s temple, His presence to the psalmist! "My soul yearns" is talking about thedeepest longing. That is how much he yearns. "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." Theheartis thecomprehensive term for the internal aspect of a personand thefleshis aterm for the external, physical aspect of a person. We can see that it ishis whole beingthat yearns for God. Because he yearns so intensely, he is about to faint! When doIfeel like fainting? When I don’t eat, or run too hard. I think of some fans of different musical groups likeN’SYNCor theBackstreet Boys, but they are nothing compared to the real fans. The real ones were theBeatlesfans. You can just picture them about to faint, and somedidfaint! Of course, the saddest thing about all this is that they are the best illustration of those that faint because they yearn so much. It should be the church that is the example of those that yearn so much.
  9. Who is saying this? If you look at the beginning of the Psalm, it says, "of theSons of Korah." Who are the sons of Korah? I Chronicles gives the details of how God wanted the temple to be.I Chronicles 25-26is where the sons of Levi, one of the tribes of Israel were assigned to various services of the Temple. The Levites were to work asfull time ministers,as singers, musicians, and doorkeepers of the House.I Chronicles 26is a record of the Korahites, who were chosen and assigned as gatekeepers or doorkeepers, or in today’s term,janitors. It was humble work. And it was one of these doorkeepers who wrote this psalm. Think about it. They were in the temple all the time yet they were not sick of it. They didn’t want to get away and work as farmers. They still yearned for the presence of God after all that time. They served in the temple and that is where they wanted to be because they loved the Lord so much. "My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God".
  10. "I Chronicles26 was a record of the assigning of the sons of Levi to various places of service in the Lord’s house. Aaron was of this tribe, and these sons were divided into twenty-four groups to maintain the sacrifices at the altar (I Chronicles 24). The descendants of Aaron’s cousins were divided into similar groups to conduct the music that was to be sung at God’s house, "Accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals " ( I Chronicles 25:1). The next chapter records the assignments given to a third branch of Levi’s tribe, that of the Sons of Kore (Korah) who were called Korahites. These men were chosen to be "gatekeepers" or "doorkeepers"–janitors if you like. It was humble work, but the Bible takes approving notice of it, saying, "They were very capable men…men with the strength to do the work" ( I Chronicles 26:5, 8)
  11. In v. 3 he illustrates with two birds. Maybe the psalmist was writing during the time of exile, and he is longing for the house of God and envying anyone who has greater access to the house of God. Being a janitor, he would know every corner and crevice of the temple. He probably saw birds making nests in the temple, and he is thinking of those birds. ‘Those birds are better off than me because they are in the house of the Lord.’ There are some significant things about these birds.
  12. Sparrowwas the mostworthlessanimal at that time. That is why Jesus said that two pennies are worth more than sparrows. It is a picture of us - we are also unworthy people, but if we live in the presence of God we are worthy.
  13. Swallowsare therestlessones always flying around until mating season, when they get married, just like us.St. Augustine in his "Confessions" said thatour hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. We are worthless and restless until we find our place in God, when we find rest in the cross. The worthless and restless are the objects of envy if, and only if, they have access to the presence of God.
  14. Blessed Strengthening–v.5-8
  15. "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage" The theme of the ones on a journey continues although the imagery changes. Those who are on their way to the Temple is compared to the sparrows and swallows. As they fly, so we too are on a heavenly journey to a heavenly Zion as we draw our strength for our journey from Him. Pilgrimage literally means "highway". They have set their minds on the highway that leads to the presence of God. Highway is araised road, asacred way for procession. It means we are on a privileged pilgrimage, a sacred path to our heavenly home to our sacred presence before God. The New Testament offers a slightly different perspective. Jesus said if you want to follow me,you have to deny yourself. Though it is not an easy path, it is a privileged path. Why? Because of thedestination, thepresence of the King. Nevertheless, though it is a glorious destination, it is not an easy path. That is what it says in v. 6, "As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." What is that?Valley of Bacameans theValley of Weeping. It means thateven though we are on a privileged path, we will weepat times because we feel weak or sad, or hurt, or depressed. We will want to quit. But it says, "(they) make it a place of springs." What is the meaning?Pain and sorrow in the Christian life aretransmutable. They can be changed.A puddle of tears can turn into a pool of spring. Pilgrimage should be a continuous triumph in and through our circumstances. TheyMAKEit a place of springs.
  16. Why and how can we do that? In v. 6 it says, "The autumn rains also cover it with pools" Where does rain come? From the sky. God gives his mercy and strength when we go through the valley of Baca. Because God gives the spring, we can make the place of weeping into a place of joy, and we can overcome by the strength of the lord. We transmute that situation, overcoming with the strength of the Lord. Look what happens in verse 7 — "they go from strength to strength". It means that we should logically lose strength as we go through the difficulties, yet as we run the race we get stronger and stronger.Christians are the only ones who get stronger running in the marathon. When you run in a marathon, they say at about the 24thor 25thmile mark your mind begins to play tricks on you and the thought of quitting comes. But if you endure, at about the 26thmile mark, the second wind comes. And that is exactly the case for Christians. "Till each appears before God in Zion"The vision of our Beloved strengthens usas we get closer and close to the One that we yearn for, the One that we truly love in our hearts.
  17. How do they get that strength? V. 8 "hear my prayer". We need to pray. But notice the pronouns change from "they" to "my". There is the "my" aspect and the "they" aspect. I absolutely need the "my" aspect because I need to pray. But I also need the "they" aspect because through the church of Jesus Christ we are strengthened. It is referring to both theprivateandcorporateaspect. But of course the most important is the private aspect —Ineed to pray. Then we go from strength to strength. If we are getting weaker, then we have to kick in the "they" aspect, doing it together like the sparrows going together to the temple. We are strengthened in the Lord as we go on this pilgrimage. We will go through the valley of Baca but we will be strengthened.
  18. Blessed declaring–v. 9-12
  19. Our service is exactly like that. We yearn for God, than being strengthened by Him, we declare Him through the week. V. 10 "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." He talks about thelongevityof life. "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked" Here he is talking aboutstatusin life. The psalmist would rather be a doorkeeper than have the highest status. It is not the most important thing what status we have, but who we live with. It is not the approval of men but the approval of God that is important. Even if I am a doorkeeper I would rather live for Him.I would rather be a sparrow than a successfully settled sinner. "I would rather be" means "I havechosen" The Korahites were chosen by God but they could have said no. It is just like that in our lives because we can say "no" to God. But we need to make commitments to God everyday, so that we daily choose God’s will by his strength.I havechosento be a doorkeeperbecause that is the lot given to me and I will be faithful.
  20. V. 11b says, "The Lord bestowsfavorandhonor."Graceandglory. If we choose to live with him, the benefit is that he gives grace and glory. Not status of people, but glory is His approval. No amount of status in life is as important as His approval. He is then oursunandshield. When our mission team to Egypt go to Sinai, this aspect of the sun and shield will be very important. Picture the Israelites in the desert for 40 days and nights. It is so hot in the daytime they need a shield from the scorching sun. At night God became a pillar of light because it is so cold at night when the sun is gone. Last summer, I also had a chance to go up a hill at Sinai, like Moses. It was so cold and I thought of Moses and how cold it was as he was going to receive the word of God. I thought,is my heart ready like this every time I go to the presence of God?Anyway, it wassocold. But how did God provide? As a pillar of cloud during the day, and the pillar of fire by night. The Israelites understood this as: it is hot at day and cold at night. During the day, the Lord was their shield from the scorching heat. At night, the temperature is ice cold, so a fire is needed. Sometimes the Lord is our heater, but sometimes he is our air conditioner. He is there in thewinter of our nights. He is there in thesummer of our days. He is helping us, standing with us through thefiery trials of temptationas well as through theicy cold persecutions. He is our sun and our shield. The Lord will protect during the day and night, summer and winter times of our lives. Be they temptations and persecutions, His goodness will chase us all the days of our lives. "Oh Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." (v.12)
  21. I was reading Donald Grey Barnhouse and he recalled one particularly cynical student in seminary speaking during a prayer meeting. He shared I Chronicles 26:18, "As for the court to the west, there were four at the road and two at the court itself. They were divisions of the gatekeepers who were descendants of Korah and Merari." What is this about? God was specifically naming, pointing out, and choosing specific gatekeepers. What did Barnhouse understand about this? He wrote,"I probed into the depths of the Word of God, that God is interested in the simplest tasks of the simplest men."
  22. There are two things I learned from this.
  23. The sparrows and swallow areimportantto God.
  24. The doorkeepers must bejoyfully faithful.
  25. If our God is concerned with the simplest task of faithful men, then we have to be faithful with every little thing that we do. He is that concerned.
  26. Conclusion
  27. So many people work so that this worship service can happen. Did you know that? There are many people involved so that we can be blessed together. I would never consider myself as the most important person in this service. That would make me laugh. I am just one person among many who serve so that we can be blessed. So many people work so that we can experience the presence of God. Imagine God saying "I have appointed you to that specific task even though you are a sparrow or swallow." He has called you and He is concerned. The logical thought that should follow is that we should befaithful. And he is please with our faithfulness. Together we fly until we reach that final destination. The small graces we experience now is nothing compared to being in the presence of God. But until then we will go through the valley of Baca weeping and crying and wanting to quit, feeling alone in the puddle of our tears. But he promises that he will rain on you and will turn the valley of Baca into the spring of his grace. And as the church of Jesus Christ we will fly and strengthen one another and individually pray and receive His grace, the journey is long, but he will give the strength at the 26thmile to finish. So let’s pray now and never quit. Some of us may be in the valley now, so receive the rain. He loves you and will strengthen you so that we can fly together. Let’s pray and receive His grace and turn the valley of Baca into the spring of his grace.

Suggested Closing Song:

For a Day In Your Presence (Psalm 84)

Your Eye Is on the Sparrow

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