How lovely is Your dwelling place O Lord Almighty For my soul longs and even faints for You For here my heart is satisfied Within Your presence I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
One thing I ask and I would seek
To see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells
(Repeat Chorus)
Bridge
My heart and flesh cry out
For You, the living God
Your Spirit’s water to my soul
I’ve tasted and I’ve seen
Come once again to me
I will draw near to You
I will draw near to You
Matt Redman © Copyright 1995 Thankyou Music
You can hear Matt Redman sing this here
https://bit.ly/3gvt7Zt
Reflection
Journey through two worlds
Psalm 84 is a pilgrim song. It tells of a journey to the Temple in Jerusalem. Like many a journey, this one has two dimensions. It makes its way through two worlds.
The first and obvious dimension is the physical journey – along the road, across the land, among companions, according to plan and custom. This journey matters: you do want to get to the Temple. But in some ways the second dimension matters more. For it runs through inner space. It is a journey of anticipation, a pilgrimage of hope, in the human heart. The very act of travelling kindles a spiritual experience within the worshipper. I look forward to worship because I want to meet with God. My spirit sings with joy, and stretches forward in longing, to be where God is.
Matt Redman’s version splices sections of this Psalm with a thread from Psalm 27 (‘one thing I ask …’). The effect is to highlight the inner journey. We are invited to share in the worshipper’s emotional investment, the heart’s yearning for God, the hunger and thirst of the human spirit. To be near to God is a consuming desire and complete delight.
So this Psalm could prepare us for church today, for entering a building hallowed by the prayers of the years, a touching place with heaven, where many before us have been able to go deep with God. But perhaps the Psalm does more than this. It beckons us along the inner journey, wherever we find ourselves and whatever our needs. Yes, church does help us to locate God. But God is beyond location too. God is everywhere, accessible and gracious, always open to our prayers, constantly ready to embrace us with love and life. Sometimes that is the good news we need.
Prayer
We love the place, O God,
wherein thine honour dwells;
the joy of thine abode
all earthly joy excels.
Lord Jesus, give us grace
on earth to love thee more,
in heaven to see thy face,
and with thy saints adore. (William Bullock, 1854)
