Hope Springs

What excites you? A sports team, a film star, going to a music concert, your husband or wife? What is it that gets you off your seat . . . stirs your emotions . . . fires you up? Psalm 84 helps us to see there is no greater place to direct our passion than towards God. There is nowhere better for us to be than close to God. It is a sad truth that often when people witness how we live our lives, they could quite easily think that I’m more excited about (fill in the blank) than I am about my relationship with God.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 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. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
- Psalm 84:1-7 [ESV]

Yet Psalm 84 directs us to pursue a different reality. It summons us to become consumed by, overcome by, delight in, and devote ourselves to God. It shows the design of a worshiper of God who is all-in (soul, heart, and flesh) for God. It shows someone who comes not for a meeting but an event, not for information but transformation. They will find welcome just like the sparrows and swallows of verse 3-4. How gracious and compassionate is our God! To theses followers of Jesus Christ, God is the sole place of satisfaction driving everything they do today.

In verse 5, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” It is the fruit of people who have learned to say, “Get me to God with as few detours as possible, as fast as possible.” They are urgent for the encounter and directing their hearts to that place. We can often find ourselves saying, “It’s going to be great when I get to the end of this road.” Wel,l only if God is at the end of it. It is designed to impact you, to change you so that God might use you.

“As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.” The valley of Baca was regarded as a place of darkness and tears. Yet, what we see is transformation brought about as those who have their heart set on God are present there. God’s presence in you makes your presence with parched and pained people a blessing. Press in on this today. Today, your peace is not to be a private peace but a presented peace, your hope is not to be a harboured hope but a held-out hope.