The progressive 84: Making the presence of God portable

Psalm 84v1-6

 ¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
      O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
 ² I long, yes, I faint with longing
      to enter the courts of the Lord.
   With my whole being, body and soul,
      I will shout joyfully to the living God.
 ³ Even the sparrow finds a home,
      and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
   at a place near your altar,
      O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!
 ⁴ What joy for those who can live in your house,
      always singing your praises.
                         Interlude

 ⁵ What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
      who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
 ⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,^[b]
      it will become a place of refreshing springs.

“How lovely is Your dwelling place” 

I love the way that this rhetorical question is used to make a statement. Its like what David is actually saying here is “NOTHING is as lovely as the place where you are at, God!” It is a beautiful, indescribable place. 

David had a heart that longed to be found wherever God was. He had a lovesickness for the presence of God. David loved the presence of God so much that his lifetime passion was to build a place for it. 

check out some of these epic David quotes- have we ever found ourselves saying this to God?

"I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells."

"..zeal for your house consumes me,"

From my heart I know that I can say- "God, I just want to be near to you- I have been made in such a way that until I am found in you, I will be restless and unfulfilled, until I am abiding in you I will be empty! - just like David I want to say to God “all my fountains are in you” and “You are my portion”. 

There is no beauty like beholding God in the beauty of His holiness. Beholding that beauty is our joy, our privilege and our destiny!

This heart attitude is an overflow of a heart that is burning with love like a fire. In Song of songs we see the passion of love described as a fire that “many waters cannot quench”. Love is the strongest gravity and an inextinguishable fire that will not let us rest until we have found the place of knowing and being known by God. 

"I long, yes, I faint with longing
      to enter the courts of the Lord.
   With my whole being, body and soul,
      I will shout joyfully to the living God."

A few years ago I was asked to house sit for a friend who stayed down the road. It was great- nice house, DSTV, a fridge full of food, what more could a single guy ask for? The only catch was that I had to look after a 4 foot, 60kg great Dane. This dog was no ordinary ankle snapper. This was more like a suburban Lion that would make any person taking their little pooch for a gentle stroll in the park, tremble with fear. This dog was intelligent, and was in love with his master, Steve. 

Steve was planning a winter skiing holiday and I was left to look after this beast. Needless to say, he ate a full chicken and about 2kg of rice and dog food mix. And that was just for dinner! But I thought it would be ok you know, he still has the same bed each night, he still gets the same food and the same attention, everything is the same, all except Steve was away..

But I soon found out that all was not well. Every night I had to go to bed hearing the call of a pining Great Dane longing for his masters return. He was miserable, he hardly ate, in fact, he was so love sick, that one night he jumped over a 6 foot wall to escape – just to try to do something frantic to at least try search for his master Steve. This lasted for a whole week, and boy was I glad that Steve arrived. I hardly slept the whole time!

But I learned something about the heart of a God chaser through this experience. Just like this dog wailed in lament and sorrow until the day he was found in his masters presence, so it is no different with me- I also pine after the presence of my master. I have tasted and seen that He is good, I have experienced the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, I have been drunk in the joy found in His presence, I have known the experience of being found near to him- it is a place of wonder- being caught up in "the beauty of His Holiness"

Just like the song says:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His beautiful face 

And the things of this world will grow strangely dim 

In the light of His glory and grace.

Just one “taste” of the presence of God will keep you coming back for more and more. David had an addiction for the presence of God in all senses of the word. His body groaned, his soul called out for the next “intimate moment” to be found in the high priviliage of "hosting God". It was his “one thing” that he was after in life. In the story of Jesus at Mary and Martha’s house- Jesus commended Mary for choosing this one thing and convicted Martha of being concerned and worried about “many things” God is wanting us to have an undivided heart to be with him and him alone. He wants us to have eyes for him alone- with one goal: to dwell in his resting place.

“even a sparrow has found its home”

I never quite understood this verse until I actually realized that David is using it as a means of describing how he has settled in the presence of God. Some commentators say that David may have been looking up in the temple to see these birds actually in the place of worship, but when David says “even” you feel like you are getting the sense that David is comparing the way that the birds have “set up residency” to the way that he has. Its almost like David is saying- Hey the birds have come to settle in this place of beauty too! Have you always noticed that you only see birds in places of beauty? Pigeons hang out in the cities and the dirty places, but swallows and sparrows choose places of beauty for their home. They are selective. The other thing I pick up about this analogy is that sparrows and swallows sing.. their song is pleasant to the ear. And again, its as if David is saying “God, I’m making my home here where you are! And out of this place of beauty my song of worship will rise as pleasant to you as these birds are to me. We behold his beauty and sing of it. We breathe in His beauty and breathe out His praise!

"What joy for  those.."

Being near to God brings joy to your life! Look how the following scriptures reflect this truth:

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells." 

"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!” 

There is joy, liberty, freedom, goodness when the Holy Spirit welcome. The presence of God in churches makes people happy! This is a great sign of whether a church is actually experiencing the outpouring of The Spirit- are people happy? Is there laughter? Is there love? Life flows from the giver of life- and Jesus came to give us this abundant life- life in The Spirit. There is great joy that fills our life when we encounter God- joy for the journey of life, to sustain us through all the ups and downs.

"..who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem."

One of the amazing things that I have found that occurs in church life is the fact that the more you see people getting plugged into the presence of God, the more they loose sight of the worth of earthly material things. Isn’t it amazing that the more time you spend with God, the more you are actually able to feel that heaven is your home, and that you are actually just passing through this world? If our strength comes from God and not from any other means, it is safe to say that you have been hanging out with him. 

The kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God are at war with each other. This earthly kingdom tells us- set up residency, buy property, invest! Build a high wall of wealth around yourself, buy more stuff! Get that new flat screen, that new fashion, spoil yourself, you are worth it!

And although God does give us things for our enjoyment, sometime we just need to ask ourselves the question- do we have riches, or do the riches have us? The kingdom of God is calling us to be so caught up with heaven that we live our lives here in light of that, and instead of storing up wealth for us here, we are called to store this wealth up there!

Lets look at our father of the faith – Abraham. Lets see the example he set:

Hebrews 11v8 ^“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

Pilgrim people have their eyes set on the heavenly Jerusalem, just like Abraham did, as we see in Hebrews 11. Pilgrim people are ready to give up what it takes to press in for more of God, because they realize that ultimately everything that is seen is temporary. God is calling us to be heavenly minded so that we can really see the things of heaven come down to earth. Notice that word “set” – it is an intentional will of a Christian. The more time we deliberately place ourselves in front of the glory of God the more we understand and know our home is heaven, and the lighter we will hold onto material possessions.

 ⁶ When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,^[b]
      it will become a place of refreshing springs.

For me this is the climax and end of my message. This is the goal of every Christian- to be salt and light to a world in need of a saviour. 

At this stage I would like us to look over our shoulder to what we have seen so far, and I want to show you the progression of this Psalm.

David starts by describing the infinite value of the presence of God, and the overwhelming desire to be found in that place of union and communion with God. Through metaphor he show us that this is where he is meant to live, and “set up nest”. He tells us of the joy and consequent strength that comes from this place of fellowship of The Holy Spirit. 

He then tells us of the great blessing on those who, out of this place of beholding God in the Glories of heaven, realize that this is their final destination, and who embark on a passage of pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem in faith. And now we come to this verse- making places of Weeping, places of refreshing.

It is my opinion that we are living in times where Gods heart of love is compelling us to make the glory of God portable, to take it “from here to out there” so to speak. To have a desire to see Gods love and power demonstrated from Monday to Saturday. Its out of a place of longing and valuing the manifest presence of God that we realize that we have been “destined to travel” on this earth as strangers that bring the good news of the deliverance of God into situations of injustice. Where the enemy has come in like a flood, God is calling us to raise up a standard of His mercy and justice. 

“Fill us up and send us out” is the pattern of scripture. Jesus has commissioned us to go out there and live a life like he lived. Lets hear His words to us again:

(Jesus Appears to His Disciples) ¹⁹On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  ²¹Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

Mark 16:16-17:And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

God is calling us to realize that everything that is needed for world outreach is found in the place of His presence. Remember the call to the thirsty to come? The fresh bread and water of heaven is what the world is looking for and we have it! 

God is looking for a people who so value His presence that they would move out on a mission of His love and bring a place of springs to all those who are weeping. People who are filled up, and sent out. Is that not the message of Isaiah 61 that Jesus prophesied over himself, and speaks over us? This is the lifestyle that he is calling us to! We have nothing to offer the world unless it comes from him. We can only give out what he has given us, we have no power unless it is of him- he calls us first to receive and then to go!

Lets behold God in "the beauty of His holiness" and allow that love to so fill our hearts that we would share it with the world, and turn places of injustice and weeping into places where people find their refreshing in Him.