Monday, March 20, 2023

            Psalm 84 is a wonderful Psalm for enhancing your worship of the Lord.  Fittingly, this Psalm opens by declaring “how lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty” (84:1).  And worship is a lovely thing.  We connect with the Maker of all things lovely and wonderful—the Lord Himself.  The writer of this Psalm speaks of yearning for the Lord and crying out to be near Him.  To want the Lord above all other things is at the heart of worship.  And to seek the Lord above all other things is the heart of discipleship.  Worship feeds discipleship and discipleship strengthens our worship.  The Psalmist wrote, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (84:2).  When eternity comes, God’s people will dwell in a continuous state of worship and amazement.  We will be forever awed by His greatness, glory and power.  He will outshine the sun at its brightest moment.
            Worship offers us a chance to give God the worth and glory that He deserves.  We could think of worship as worth-ship...and God’s worth-ship.  Worship also rejuvenates and recharges us in return.  Worship is never about us.  It is always about God.  But if we give glory and worthiness to the Lord God, we are blessed in return.  If we lift God in worship, we will be abundantly blessed and joyful as well.  Indeed, the Psalmist made this promise, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you” (84:4). 
            Those who dwell in the presence of God are blessed beyond measure.  Worship helps us to recognize that we are not alone.  We will never be alone.  The Lord is with us.  One sure way to defeat fear and anxiousness is worship.  Let the power of worship calm fears and steady your feelings of worry or anxiousness.  To “dwell in God’s house” is to enter into worship as often and as frequently as we can. When looking for a way to describe how he felt about worship, the Psalmist wrote, “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 (84:10).
            When we worship, we build a relationship with the Lord.  He does become our Father.  He is our Good Shepherd.  He is our Light and Hope.  We learn that God can be trusted with anything and everything we place in His hands.  The Bible says, “LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you” (84:12).  God seeks a relationship with us.  Worship helps us to remember that He is the Lord and we are not.  God makes five distinct promises to us in verse eleven, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Psalm 84:11).  The Lord is our sun and shield.  He warms us and lights our way.  And He defends us along the way.  If it were not for the Lord declaring “let there be light,” we would have no light of our own. He grants favor and honor as He wills and pleases.  God may not give us everything we want but He does not hold back on the things we need and the blessings that He has chosen for us.  He knows exactly what we need and when we need it. 
            Three different times, Psalm 84 used the word “blessed” to describe God’s people.  Blessed we are.  Blessed beyond words or counting.  Blessed by more than we could possibly hold.  Blessed!  What a joy to be able to say “I am blessed.”  It is the Great I AM who blesses us.  Worship is the perfect place to give thanks for those blessings and to dedicate them to Him for His glory.  Our greatest blessing is remembered in less than a month as we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus—our Savior and Redeemer.  Sharpen your worship this week as you inch closer and closer to Good Friday and Easter.  Have a great Monday.  Remember our worship can be found at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.