My Heart Is Happy in the House of the Lord

Psalm 84

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
    listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God;
    look with favor on your anointed one.

10 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.
11 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.

12 Lord Almighty,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you.

My Heart is Happy in the House of the Lord

What is the last thing you yearned for?

I can think of plenty of things that I have wanted, things that I’ve looked forward to, but I don’t think that wanting to buy a new car or computer constitutes yearning, at least not the way the Sons of Korah talk about yearning in Psalm 84:

My soul yearns, even faints… my heart and my flesh cry out…[1]

When was the last time you were on the verge of fainting because you wanted something so badly? When have your heart and soul and body all been on the same page, wanting the same thing so much that you just wanted to scream?

I think I got close to that when I was a kid at Christmas. It wasn’t the presents so much as it was driving to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, staying up on Christmas Eve eating pickles and imitation crab while the whole family was together.

It hits differently this year, doesn’t it? The “second wave” is three times the size of the first. There’s talk that if we don’t get things under control soon then Christmas could be canceled, if that were possible. We’re already preparing for it to be very different. Church won’t be full on Christmas Eve. How will we blow out our candles after singing Silent Night if we all have masks on? My wife and I won’t be able to be with our families; some of you won’t either.

Does that get you yearning? Or maybe you lost your dad or your husband or your grandpa this year. Did that make your soul want to faint? Have you been stuck in quarantine for 2 weeks at a time, maybe even more than once? Has someone you loved been isolated so that you couldn’t see them when they needed you most? How did that make you feel?

2020 has been a year, but in my experience something happens every year that makes you yearn, i.e. makes you long for something more, something better.

The Sons of Korah didn’t just long for something. They said, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”[2] What the Sons of Korah wanted more than anything – what they ached for in their bones – was to be with God in his house.

That’s what we call church sometimes, don’t we – God’s house? Do you yearn to be here?

None of you were here for Easter.  I wasn’t even here – we pre-recorded that service. There was a stretch of 19 services over 4 months where no one was here. We’re still not all together. Do you miss being here?

I mean, yes, we rejoice that we can worship anywhere at any time. You can worship in your pajamas in your basement, but the “house of the Lord,” i.e. church, is special because as soon as you walk in these doors, you have a 3,000lb reminder of your baptism. This is the place we have dedicated for sharing of the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. This building can be a sanctuary from all the hurtful, evil, exhausting things we deal with on a daily basis.

When I was young, I yearned for the fun things – Christmases, holidays, time with friends. Now, I yearn for relief from the unfun things – the daily grind, challenging people or circumstances, policies and protocols, guilt and shame. And so my soul yearns, even faints for relief, for rest, for a moment where I can breathe and be reassured that everything is going to be OK.

That’s why church exists – to be your sanctuary, to be your refuge where you hear the Word of God that soothes your aching soul, that calms your troubled fears, that gives you a moment to catch your breath and rest at ease.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.[3]

It’s easy to skip over these verses because we don’t make pilgrimages anymore. Who of you even knows where the Valley of Baka is? It’s a trick question! Nobody does. It doesn’t exist. It’s a metaphor. “Baka” means “sorrow” or “weeping.” So the message is that as you go through sorrow and suffering – as you yearn for relief and release – God showers you with his blessings until they pool up around you. In fact, the Hebrew word for “pool” sounds an awful lot like “blessings.”

This weird, easily-skipped-over section is actually a metaphor about how God is with you while you’re yearning. It’s about how God is blessing you while you suffer. It gives you the reassurance that you will appear before God in Zion, which is just another way to say that you will dwell in the house of the Lord – only this time, we’re not talking about a church building, but the heavenly home of God.

That’s ultimately the real value of this earthly sanctuary – and the purpose of Saints Triumphant Sunday – to remind you that you have a home in heaven, and that nothing on earth can take that away from you, because you have a shield that protects you.

Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.[4]

Our shield – the thing that protects us from all harm and danger in this world and throughout our lives, the one who ensures that we will go to heaven – our shield is God’s anointed one. Literally, in Hebrew, that’s Messiah. In Greek, it’s Christ. Our shield is Jesus. And Jesus knows how you feel.

Jesus knew what it is to yearn for the courts of the Lord. He left those courts when he was born on Christmas. He showed a love for the house of God on earth when he was a boy and made his own pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Even after his parents left, Jesus stayed behind. And when they came back to find him, he said, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”[5]

As an adult, Jesus showed that love for the house of the Lord by spending every Sabbath Day in the synagogues hearing and preaching God’s Word in every town and village. He felt like a nomad and wanderer with no real home to call his own, but he found his rest in God’s Word. He took shelter in the pages of Scripture.

Jesus went through his own Valley of Baka, his own sorrow and suffering. He grieved at the death of his friends. He wept over the state of the world. He even went to a cross for you. He hung on a piece of wood while his heart and flesh cried out for the living God, all so that you wouldn’t have to – all so that you could live in the house of the Lord, knowing that all your sins have been forgiven and that nothing can stand in your way of going to heaven.

Heaven is your home because Jesus is your shield and Saviour. Nothing – none of the things that exhaust you, none of the things that scare you, none of the things that make you yearn for something more or better – nothing can rob you of the hope of heaven, because Jesus is your shield and strength, Jesus is your Saviour from sin. Jesus is the one who opens heaven to you. And when you get there, Jesus will be the sun who lights your days too.  

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. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold form those whose walk is blameless.[6]

I yearn for relief from the problems of this world. That’s one reason I look forward to heaven. But to cast heaven merely as an escape from our problems doesn’t nearly do it justice. The Sons of Korah say that they would rather spend a single day there than a thousand days anywhere else.

Heaven is better than a hotel room in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Heaven is better than a private resort on a Hawaiian island. Heaven is better than 12oz Kobe strip steak, the first run down fresh powder, winning the lottery, or having your whole family gathered around the Christmas tree.

The worst day in heaven is better than the best day you could possibly have on earth, and that’s because the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Apostle John tells us that in heaven we won’t need the sun because the glory of God will be our light and Jesus will be its lamp. There won’t be any night, with unknown fears or unseen dangers, because Jesus will be our sun and he will give us light forever and ever.

The Lord bestows favor and honor. In heaven there won’t be any sin, which means there won’t be any guilt. There won’t be any fear of punishment.  You will be living in perfection and you yourself will be made perfect. You can’t make bad decisions. There will be no wrong choices. Everything will be exactly the way God wants it.

No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Maybe the best part of heaven is that you won’t have to yearn for anything ever again, because in heaven you will have every good thing. Here we have all kinds of stuff we wish we could change, but there, everything will be perfect, including the people.

This promise is for you, not because you’re blameless, but because Jesus was blameless for you. And finally, that’s our hope. That’s the hope for every believer – for all the saints that have gone before us. Heaven isn’t reserved for the best of the best. It’s offered freely to those God calls “blessed.” And, thanks to Psalm 84, we know who that is: Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.[7]

That’s John Shoults. That’s Darrel Napora. That’s Hilda Martel and Andrea Beach. That’s every believer from our congregation and around the world who is enjoying the triumph of Jesus even now. They trusted in the Lord Almighty and they’re living in his house right now, praising his name and waiting for the day that they’ll welcome you to your heavenly home too.

Take my health. Take my freedom. Take my Christmases for the next 40 years. My heart is happy in the house of the Lord – here on earth as I remember his promises, and forever in heaven when I’ll see them fulfilled. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord Almighty. Blessed are you. Amen.

[1] Psalm 84:2

[2] Psalm 84:2

[3] Psalm 84:5-7

[4] Psalm 84:8-9

[5] Luke 2:49

[6] Psalm 84:10,11

[7] Psalm 84:12

St. Pete's on Repeat RSS

3 Tips for Surviving the Apocalypse

3 Tips for Surviving the Apocalypse

Before my grandmother passed away, she knew the end was near and she began to get her affairs in order. She was prepared. Before Grandpa died, they had hired a lawyer to draft a will for them, but even a will doesn’t list absolutely everything. Oh, it covered the bank accounts, the house in Detroit, the cabin up north, but it didn’t cover the painting in the living room or the china cabinet in entryway.

So, Grandma grabbed a pad of post-it notes and started writing names on them. She’d jot down “Karen” and stick it on the painting over the mantel. She’d jot down “Norine” and put it on the power recliner. She’d jot down “Brenda” and put it on the buffet.

Grandma knew that her end was near, and she wanted to prepare for it.

How should you prepare to face your Maker? Moses has 3 tips for us. They all come from our Psalm for the day, Psalm 90. It may not be marking the stuff in your house to make sure it goes to the right person when you die, but you can write these 3 things down on post-it notes and put them around your house as a reminder.

Tip #1

To find out the first way that you can prepare for the end, I want to read the first 6 verses of Psalm 90:

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

From the first verse, Moses makes a contrast: God is eternal; we are mortal.

God was there before the creation of the world. He’s the one who brought everything that you see into existence. He birthed the mountains and brought forth the whole world. Everything that exists has been made by God, which means that God makes the rules. He’s the one who invented gravity. He’s the one who orders the seasons and sets the stars in the sky.

God is eternal, but we are not. We are mortal. We die. And Moses tells us why:

You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

The God who gives life is also the one to take it.

The harsh reality is that there is only one cause of death in this world. It’s not COVID or any of its comorbidities; it’s not COPD, coronaries, cancer, or car accidents, etc… The only cause of death in this world is sin. There would be no death if there were no sin.

That’s why Moses says “You turn people back to dust.” It’s a reference to something else that Moses wrote from Genesis chapter 3 – To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you… By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”[1]

When Adam and Eve first disobeyed a direct command from God – when they first sinned – they brought death into the world. Death was never God’s plan, but as Paul says to the Romans, “Sin entered the world through one man,” – that’s Adam – “and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”[2]

Your parents may not have put a post-it note on it when they passed it down to you, but you inherited a sinful nature from them, just as they did from their parents, and they from theirs all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And because of sin, we all share a common fate. We all die. We are mortal.

So, if we are small and mortal, and God is infinite and eternal, there’s a warning in these words to steer clear of presuming that we know better than God. Instead, let God be God. That’s post-it note #1 – Let God be God. Let him be in control. Let him be the judge of right and wrong.

Tip #2

And this is especially important when we read what Moses has to say next:

7 We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

I told you before that there is only one cause of death in this world. It’s sin. What I didn’t tell you is how sin makes God feel. Moses tells us here: anger, indignation, wrath.

 We probably don’t talk enough about how absolutely terrifying that is. There is a real place called hell and it’s not the butt of a joke or a four-letter word you say when you’re frustrated. It’s eternal suffering; the lake of burning fire; the second death; eternal punishment; everlasting destruction; being shut out from the presence of God; gloomy dungeons with insatiable worms that eat you from the inside out and unquenchable fire that can never be put out.

That’s what’s waiting for sinners after we die. And that’s why Moses prays the way he does:

Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Life is short. The after life is forever. What we do with the time we have is a matter of eternal life and death. Jesus talks about this exact thing. He says;

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?[3]

If you spend 70 or 80 years in politics, you could land a position that would allow you to change the course of a nation. If you spend 70 or 80 years practicing medicine, you could save hundreds or thousands of lives. If you spend 70 or 80 years championing environmentalism, you could change the face of the planet for generations to come.

But if you neglect your soul and spend all your energy and effort chasing after only earthly things, you waste your life and you jeopardize eternity. Not even the mountains will last forever, but the eternal God who made them will. And if you are not right with God when you die, then your soul will suffer forever in hell.

That’s why Moses prays the way he does. Life is short. Time is precious. What we do with our time matters. So use it wisely. Learn to count your days. That’s post-it note #2 – Learn to count your days.

Tip #3

When it comes to our eternal life, wisdom is important, but mercy is imperative. While Moses does pray for wisdom, he doesn’t rely on it. What he does rely on is God to relent:

13 Relent, LORD! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.

It’s easy to overlook, but there’s one word that turns this whole psalm around. It’s only 4 letters but it makes a world of difference. It’s the “LORD.” That’s the name God uses to remind us of his free and faithful love. It’s his covenant name, i.e. the name he would sign on the dotted line of a contract. It’s a testament to God’s commitment to keep his promises.

And while God is the one who gives and takes life – while God is the one who condemned Adam and Eve and all their descendants to mortality and death for our sin, he is also the one who promised to send a Saviour from sin. And because he is the covenant God, i.e. the LORD, he kept that promise. He sent us Jesus.

God did relent, which is just another way to say that he had mercy on us. He does not treat us as our sins deserve, but instead he acts according to his unfailing love. He sent Jesus, the Son he loved, to be the sacrificial Lamb for sinners like us, to endure for us God’s anger, indignation and wrath over our sin. He gave us Jesus to be our Saviour from sin and death and hell. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for you, you don’t have to fear the fires of hell. You get to live in the favor of God forever.

Forgive me if I scared you with the description of hell before. Let me make it up to you by describing the heaven that Jesus won for you: It’s the Father’s house where there’s a room with your name on it; it’s the unshakable city of God where you’ll be free from fear and danger; it’s a place where people from every tribe and nation and language will be gathered in praise to our God; it’s a place of peace and joy where there will be no more weeping or mourning or crying or pain; it’s the wedding feast of the Lamb; It has pearly gates, streets of gold, the tree of life. But best of all, it’s the place where you will live with God forever because of the Lord’s compassion and love and grace for you in Christ Jesus your Saviour.

And that’s post-it #3 – Lean on God’s grace.

The end is near. But you don’t have to fear. You are living in the relenting compassion and unfailing love of God in Jesus your Saviour. Life is short. Time is precious. You should use it wisely as you pursue a better relationship with God. But at the end of the day – or on Judgment Day, whichever comes first – know that God pursued a better relationship with you.

So, put post-it notes on all the furniture in your house if that helps you prepare for the end, but remember: Let God be God; Learn to count your days; and Lean on God’s grace. Amen.  

St. Pete's on Repeat RSS

[1] Genesis 3:17,19

[2] Romans 5:12

[3] Matthew 16:26