Where I Want to Be

Have you ever found yourself, while visiting in the home of a friend, wishing to trade houses?  Their home may be newer, nicer, more modern, and while your home is adequate and just the way you like it, you cannot help the desire to live in a house like theirs.

David, in Psalm  84, was feeling the same thing.  He was so excited about where he was because he says, "I'd rather be right here for one day, than anywhere else for a thousand days."

David had started in the early verses of Psalm 84 with a phrase which used some terminology we may not have heard from other biblical writers.  Look at verses 1 and 2:

"How lovely is your dwelling place,  Lord Almighty!   My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. "

David was so pleased to be in the dwelling place of God that he says that is the source of blessing for his life.  He even attributes his strength as a blessing because he knows it is from God.  This, then, is the reason David makes his proclamation:

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 from those whose walk is blameless. Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.   (verses 10-12)

For David, and for us, we should see the desire of God to have us in his presence.  David recognized that and the importance of confidently trusting God.  He is the example for those who become so wrapped up in this world, they have no time for God.  He is also the example for those who are not totally and completely devoted to living for God.

David knew one day dwelling with God was better than a thousand days elsewhere.  The real message for us is how much God is longing to dwell inside us, living in the hearts of those who trust in Him. 

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