Psalm 84
As we began our studies in Ezra, we were thinking of the importance of the doorkeepers or ‘porters’. Their duties are laid out in 1 Chronicles: they were to guard the gates of the house of God, closing them and opening them at the proper times and preventing the unclean from entering. They had charge of the sacred vessels and free-will offerings and dwelt in chambers in the temple. They were Levites and their office was honourable, ranking with the singers, and after the priests. How important it is today to have godly men doing this work, keeping the door of the assembly, protecting the believers, and taking care of every detail even down to the timings of the gatherings.
We find the same word in Psalm 84:10, ‘I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness’. Here the word is not being used in the same way as in Ezra and 1 Chronicles. The margin in the AV gives ‘I would choose rather to sit at the threshold’; the margin in the Revised Version gives ‘stand’. This image is one of deep humility and this can be our privilege: to be at the threshold, not feeling worthy to be there, not holding a position of authority or a public office, but just to be there to hear His voice and to offer praise and worship and to give Him His portion.
Although the Psalm’s primary application is to the exiled Jews, who are longing to be back at the temple in Jerusalem, we can apply it to ourselves and how we feel about the gatherings of the Lord’s people. Verse 2 states ‘My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD’. Verse 4 reminds us, ‘Blessed are they that dwell in thy house’, and verse 10 is clear that ‘A day in thy courts is better than a thousand’. This year has presented challenges to the Lord’s people as we have not been able to gather and still are not able to gather as often as we would desire. But even as we go through the ‘valley of Baca’ (weeping), we can make it a spring (verse 6) with our divine resources. We can ‘go from strength to strength’ (verse 7) because the Lord hears us, He gives us strength (verse 5) and He is ‘our shield’ (verse 9).
Let us be encouraged by verse 11 to walk worthily in the House of God and also before the world: ‘no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly’.
Paul