pramsay posted on June 28, 2007 05:46
560 views
What Do You Sing About?
What lyrics are pumped through your ear buds into your eardrums? What words travel along your auditory nerve to your brain? What are your frequently played songs? Have you analyzed them lately? Often what we sing about is what we think about and what we think about we sing about. It’s a tight loop.
The thrust of Psalm 84 is unmistakably clear. The writer/singer has the beauty of the Lord’s presence on his mind. His heart throbs with excitement as he thinks about getting to the temple to enjoy the presence of the Lord. He’s homesick for the temple. Just to be there – just to be in that spiritual environment – just to be away from the noise of society and to be occupied solely with the Lord! He can hardly contain himself. He even thinks of sparrows that have the privilege of building their nests right in the temple courtyards – “Oh to be a sparrow or even a swallow and chirp away from a nest near the Temple of the Lord.”
One of the lines of his song goes like this:
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand (1000).
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
(Psalm 84:10)
The psalmist wrote: “One day in Your presence is better than a 1000 anywhere else.” Anywhere else? Really?
What about a 1000 days on some dream island with nothing else to do but relax, unwind, soak up the sun, feel the hot sand, enjoy the crystal clear water, do some snorkeling and some surfing, read your favorite books, and have plenty of time to pursue the hobby closest to your heart?
Or what about 1000 days of glamour and prestige, hobnobbing with the world’s elite? Would you really choose one day in the presence of the Lord over 1000 days somewhere else? Would you rather be a lowly doorkeeper standing on the threshold of the House of God, turning the knob and letting others in and out? Would you rather be doing that then wining and dining with the rich and famous in Las Vegas, Paris or London? The believer who wrote Psalm 84 gives a resounding: “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to the questions.
Today, it’s not the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem but we can apply it to the local fellowship of believers in your area where you attend. Would you rather be at the Lord’s Supper on a Sunday morning with other believers than anywhere else? Can you hardly wait until you get to the weekly Bible Study or Prayer Meeting where like-minded people spend time together with the Lord? Are these occasions the priority of my life? How strong is my commitment? Or do I need to fall in love again with my Saviour?
But you say: “If you only knew how some of the Christians behave who go there, you wouldn’t be too excited about going either.” I doubt if all the temple workers were lily-white in the Psalmist’s day. I doubt if the officiating priests were pure and perfect; but the poet wasn’t going there to see them. He wanted to go there to enjoy the Lord. His heart was set on the Lord.
And to think of it in another way, a Christian today can enjoy the presence of the Lord in her bedroom or kitchen, at the office or on the bus. Are you really enjoying the Lord? What are you singing about today? Are you singing songs of praise to Christ the Lord? Are you expressing in song that a “day in Your presence in close communion with Thee is better than a 1000 days anywhere else doing anything else with anyone else?”