The Blessing of Living in God's Strength

(A meditation on Psalm 84:5-8)

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 LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!

There’s a second blessing that the psalmist mentions in Psalm 84. You see it in verses 5-8, and this is the blessedness of having the Lord as your strength and your desire. Notice v.5: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

In the original language it is quite clear that the blessed one is in singular, not plural as in ESV, “Blessed are those....” Rather, it should have read, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you, in whose heart is the highways to Zion.” So while verse 4 says blessed are those who dwell in your house, verse 5 proclaims a blessing on the one who has the highways to Zion in his heart.

Many Bible scholars wrestle with the statement, “in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” What’s that referring to? Does it mean that in his heart he wants to go to Jerusalem to worship? Maybe. Or does it mean that in his heart there are highways that lead him to God?

However you interpret it, the point is that the blessed man is the one who dwells far from God's house, but who longs to be in Zion with God. That’s his ultimate goal. He wants to know God. He wants to fellowship with God. He wants to praise and worship God, and in his heart there’s this single-minded focus on communing with God.

That’s the blessed man. He knows that there’s one thing that he wants, and that is to see the beauty of the Lord. There’s one thing he desires, and that is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. His dependence and delight is in the Lord.

Again, that’s very important for us today. One of the things that John Piper has so often reminded our generation is that we often look at God as the greatest means to our own ends. In other words, we view God as the One who can get us the things that we really want, instead of the One who Himself is the greatest end, and thus the One that we really want the most.

Quite often, because we view God as the best means to accomplish our ends, we miss the greatest blessing of the gospel, which is union and communion with God Himself, delight in God Himself, reveling and enjoying God Himself. Again, this union and communion is through our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is our mediator to God. He is God in the flesh, the God who lives among us.

As you may know, three times each year, all the faithful Jews from all over the world were to gather in Jerusalem according to the word of God. As the people of Israel dwelt in their towns, they were to keep the road to Jerusalem in their hearts.

And yes, we have the great privilege of worshiping every week in the heavenly holy of Holies, but that should not cause us to be forgetful of Zion throughout the week! On the contrary, our access to the holy of Holies, which we have every day in prayer, should produce even greater devotion to God than we see here in the sons of Korah! Because the real question is where do you find your strength? And the text says, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in you [Lord].”

While we have access to the holy of Holies, we don't dwell there, at least, not yet. We are elect exiles, chosen pilgrims who are granted a glimpse of heavenly glory. But still we walk by faith and not by sight. And as we journey in this life, the LORD is truly our dwelling place, our refuge and our fortress. But as we look around us the prospect is far from comforting. We see the Valley of Baca (verse 6), which is the "the valley of tears."

Some old hymns use the phrase, the "vale of tears," as a reference for this life. Well, Psalm 84 is where they got this phrase. As we walk on this pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem, just as the pilgrims go through the Valley of Tears, we make it a place of springs. How? How do you transform the Valley of Tears into a place of springs?

If your strength is in the Lord, then you may go from strength to strength. The pilgrim in the valley of the shadow of death still walks in the strength of the Lord. The pilgrim who appears before God in Zion arrives there in the strength of the Lord (v.7).

The goal of your pilgrimage is to appear before God in Zion. And as you walk through the Valley of Tears, the Valley of Baca, remember that the Lord is your strength.

So where do you find strength for the pilgrimage? You find strength as your soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. You find strength as your heart and your flesh sing for joy to the living God.

The strength of the blessed man is in the Lord. By His Spirit, Jesus Christ is our strength. His resurrection power energizes us to live the Christian life. And the Spirit of Pentecost enables us to proclaim this truth boldly, strengthening us daily as we pass through the valley of tears and valley of the shadow of death.

Dear friends, understand that it is God who holds you up in Christ. It is God who supplies you the ability to put one foot in front of another, to keep on going to the house of God, to keep on serving Him there. You are utterly dependent upon the Lord. He must supply the strength to you if you are to live the life of faith. You who depend on the strength of the Lord are supplied with the strength of the Lord. That's what makes you blessed.

Now think of the contrast. So often our culture celebrates the person who is independent, self-sufficient, and autonomous. The “self-made man” was a great myth of nineteenth and twentieth century; the man who doesn’t depend on anybody; the man who’s done it on his own; the man who is self-sufficient.

But the psalmist says in utter contrast. No, the man who is blessed is the man whose strength doesn’t come from himself. True strength is supplied by the Lord. Blessed is that man whose strength is in You, O Lord. You supply the power of his life.

The psalmist – these temple servants – understand what the believer delights in. The believer delights in the Lord. In his heart is a highway that leads Him to worship God. That’s the blessed man. He goes from strength to strength, and he appears before God in Zion. That’s his reward. He wants Christ. He wants to worship God in Christ, and God gives him that blessing.

Verse 8 concludes this second section with the prayer of the sons of Korah: “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!”

If God does not hear, then what is the point of walking through this valley of tears? But we can go forward, rejoicing towards the courts of the LORD because we know that God hears our prayers.

The Blessings of Worshiping God

(A meditation on Psalm 84:1-4)

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


The one longing of our heart all our life is the worship of God. We were created to give honor and praise to our God and Creator. About sixteen centuries ago Saint Augustine said that God has made us in such a way that we remain restless until we find rest in Him. Until our souls find comfort and joy in the true worship of God, our deepest longing in life will remain unsatisfied.

My hope and my prayer is that every Lord's Day, when we gather together as God's covenant people in worship, our deepest desire is fulfilled and we find rest in our soul.

There is tremendous blessing that awaits you and me when we seek the adoration of our God. Blessed are those who yearn to have fellowship and communion with the living God! Blessed are those whose desire is to dwell in the presence of God forever, serving and loving Him with all their heart, mind, and soul!

Psalm 84 is designed to draw the people of God into the vision of the living God in His holy temple. It speaks of the intensity of the psalmists' desire to worship God in His temple. Thus in Psalm 84 we see that God pronounces a threefold blessing upon those who worship Him. (The psalmist mentions the word "blessed" in vv. 4, 5, and 12).

The idea of serving God and worshiping Him in His temple is prominent in this psalm. And this theme of service or worship is paralleled by the idea of blessedness. As you may know, the idea of being blessed is the notion of the one who has found the fullest joy, the deepest satisfaction, and the truest purpose of life.

The person who is blessed knows and lives life’s true purpose. He knows that man is made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Therefore the person who is truly blessed experiences the fullness of joy. Not that he’s happy in a superficial sense all the time or that nothing bad ever comes in his life experiences.

Rather whether he experiences triumph or trial in this life the blessed man is grounded in a deep joy because he knows God and he knows His purpose. He knows why he’s here and he finds deep satisfaction in God that cannot be taken away from him by any of his ever changing circumstances.

Whether your experiences in life are momentary joys and triumphs or continuing trials that tempt you to question the love and goodness of God, don't forget that you were made to glorify God. The person who knows life’s true purpose will experience its fullness of joy and will find its true blessedness regardless of the situation in and around him.

We will explore this threefold blessing that the psalmists talk about upon those who seek to serve and worship God. First of all, let's focus on the truth that those who worship God will experience the blessing of dwelling in God's house (vv.1-4).

Psalm 84 is a psalm of the Sons of Korah. Korah was one of the ancestors of the Levitical singers of the temple whom King David had appointed. So the Sons of Korah were singers in the temple. They serve in the temple. There are eleven psalms attributed to them. Most of these psalms give a prominent place to Zion, to Jerusalem, or to the temple. That is not surprising because the sons of Korah dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem!

But while the Sons of Korah write about things familiar to them, they do not write for themselves alone. As I've said, Psalm 84 is designed to draw the people of God into the vision of the living God in the temple.

In verses 1-4, notice how the psalmist focus our attention on the blessedness of dwelling in God’s house, especially when God’s people are gathered in worship. You see, the psalmist tells us that the person who is blessed is found in communion and worship with God and with His people.

The psalmist is saying that the people who get to be in the house of God and worship and praise Him are blessed. The people who long for God, who long to worship God, to know God, to praise God, they are the ones who are truly blessed.

That’s very important in our day and age. More and more churches are realizing that fewer and fewer people are interested in worshiping God when they come to church. So they are coming up with other things for them to do when they come to church because those people do not delight in worshiping God. And I want you to notice that God’s pronouncement of blessedness is not upon them. His pronouncement of blessedness is upon those who long to be with God, communing with the people of God in the worship of God.

That’s the first lesson for us out of Psalm 84:1-4. Of course, we don’t have a temple to go to anymore. We don't have to bring animal sacrifices for our sins. The building, the sanctuary where we gather for worship, is what we call God’s house because God dwells wherever His people are gathered.

God’s house is not a beautiful building built by Solomon in Jerusalem. We are told in the New Testament that God does not dwell in any place made by the hand of man. God’s house is God's people, redeemed by the blood of His Son. You and I are the house of God. He dwells among us by His Spirit.

So wherever God’s people gather, whether we gather here or in a gymnasium, when God’s people gather to worship the living God, there we find the dwelling place of God. We are God’s house. In Christ the living God has come to dwell among us. In Him the psalmist's longing for the house of God is fulfilled. Thus, our secure location and greatest joy is to be at home with God in Christ. Christ is the reality that we as believers enjoy. To be in Christ is to be blessed.

The psalmist will later say that there is no place on earth that he would rather be than in the temple of the Lord with the people of God, praising Him. And for the New Covenant believer, what we say is that there is no place that we would rather be than in Christ.

And how do we expressed our being in Christ? By being united with the body of Christ, the people of God, in fellowship and worship. We delight in our union with Christ through our worship of God and the communion of saints. There we find our fullest satisfaction. There we find our joy.

We long to be with God, singing and praising Him. But this is not possible apart from our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. That's why we sing and pray to God in the name of our Savior and Lord. Through Christ worship is the highest expression of our longing for God. And the psalmist said that’s true blessedness: the one who longs for God and to be with God’s people gathered in worshiping Him. That’s the person who understands life’s true purpose, who has experienced the fullness of joy, has found deep satisfaction, and has found communion and worship with God’s people.

Where do you want to be? Is your soul longing to be sitting in front of a ball game or show? Do you faint to see your favorite team's home court or the courts of the Lord?

You see, we were created for God. He made us for Himself, and so we have a God-shaped hole in the center of our lives, and we try our best to fill that hole with something. At the center of your being, what do you long for?

When you have seen and entered the dwelling place of the Lord of hosts you have no desire to be any place else. As the sons of Korah reflected on this, walking through the courtyard of the temple, beholding the glory of the courts of the Lord, they saw something that caught their attention. There, high up on the temple, perhaps in the latticework around the courtyard, were birds' nests.

Then they realize that all creation draws near to God in the temple. Here in the courts of the Lord, even the birds find a home. Not a sparrow falls from its nest, but the Lord of Hosts sees. If the Lord of hosts welcomes birds to nest in His courts, how much more will He welcome you who long for Him!

Because, as Hebrews 12 says, we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem; and because we have come to the courts of the living God, we may now dwell in the house of the Lord forever! And this is now a reality for us because our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us through the veil of the earthly temple and brought us into the holy of Holies, where we behold Him. We see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, sitting at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. That is what we do in our worship.

We come into the very presence of God on the basis of the sacrifice of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. We then hear His Word, read and proclaimed, and made visible by the sacraments and we respond to His Word with praises and prayers. Then we are fed at His table and go forth with His blessing.

This is not merely an earthly assembly. When we gather for worship we gather with all the heavenly hosts, with all the saints from all times and places as the Spirit lifts us in the heavenly courts in order to sing the praises of our Triune God. That is our blessedness!