Psalm 84:2
‘My soul longs…for the courts of the Lord! My heart… cries out for the living God!… They that dwell in Your House…, praise You!… They go from strength to strength…. A day in Your courts, is better than a thousand!… For the Lord God…will give grace and glory!’
Psalm 84:2-11.
Calvin comments: “David complains of his being deprived of liberty of access to the Church…. Some would understand by ‘the tabernacles of God’ the Kingdom of Heaven, as if David mourned over his continuance in this state of earthly pilgrimage…. In the second verse…, the first verb kaasaf signifies ‘vehemently to desire’…. David adds ‘his soul faints after the courts of the Lord’ — which is equivalent to our pining away…. He was convinced he needed steps…to rise up to Heaven….
“The godly were directed…to the heavenly model…. ‘Blessed are they who dwell in Your House!’…. David…testifies that the true worshippers of God offer to Him the sacrifice of praise…. Never will a man praise God from the heart, unless…a partaker of spiritual peace….
“‘They will go from strength to strength’…. The people of God will come to Zion…. The saints are continually acquiring fresh strength for going up to Mount Zion, and continue to prosecute their journey without weariness or fatigue until they reach the wished-for place and behold the countenance of God…. No visible image of God was there to be seen; but…genuine worshippers found from experience that…they were greatly aided in approaching Him…. The only way in which God becomes reconciled to us, is through the mediation of Christ!…
“‘For better is one day in Your courts, than a thousand elsewhere!’ Unlike the greater part of mankind who desire to live without knowing why, wishing simply that their life may be prolonged — David here testifies not only that the end which he proposed to himself in living was to serve God, but that in addition to this he set a higher value on one day which he could spend in the Divine Service than upon a long time passed among the men of the world….
“‘Jehovah God is our sun and shield! (The Lord will give grace and glory!)’…. As the sun by its light vivifies, nourishes and rejoiced the world — so the benign countenance of God fills with joy the hearts of His people…. They neither live nor breathe, except in so far as He shines upon them…. The sentence immediate succeeding — ‘He will give grace and glory’ — might be viewed as meaning that those whom God has distinguished by His grace in this world, will at length be crowned with everlasting glory in His heavenly Kingdom…. After God has once taken the faithful into His favour, He will advance them to high honour and never cease to enrich them!”
Calvin also says in his Institutes II:11:2 & IV:1:5 that “David rises from temporal blessings to the last and highest of all…. ‘My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God!’…(Psalm 84:2)…. Those who can venture to speak thus, assuredly declare that their hope rises beyond the world…. David complains…that by…his enemies he was prevented from entering the Tabernacle (Psalm 84)…. There is nothing on which believers set a higher value, than on this aid by which God gradually raises His people to Heaven!” Consequently, my soul longs and keeps on crying out for the living God!
