Psalm 84:1-2 - August 20, 2009

Ps 84:1-2 For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." NIV

What does your heart long for? This verse is the cry of someone who has been with God for once we have truly experienced drawing near into the courts of the living God there is no other place that can compare to being in His presence. To experience God in His sanctuary is to have this cry awakened in your heart: “How lovely is your dwelling place!” Have you seen Him? Has your spirit been moved by the breath of God and the touch of His glory as it moves across your face?
To touch the Lord is to be stirred in the deepest places of your being and once you have been there you are ruined forever! Once we have tasted of eternal things the things of this world leave us unfulfilled in comparison. From that point on this world and its pleasures hold less reward for us and a place within us is awakened that only God’s presence can fulfill. Like a thirst birthed in the hottest desert or a hunger generated by tiresome labor our inner man is compelled by a longing that is cannot be adequately described, it can only be experienced.
Paul was also a man compelled by the depth of his encounter with God. In 2 Cor 12:1-4 he cryptically speaks of one of His encounters with the eternal realms of God’s glory as he says “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven . Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know-God knows. And I know that this man-whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Paul’s taste of eternal was so intense that his description is that of having heard “inexpressible things.” Imagine drinking so deeply of the glory realm that there are no words to describe the encounter and then imagine trying to live with contentment in this life from that point on. To taste of heaven is to be ruined for earth! So why does God allow us these glimpses into glory? To compel us to seek! Like a child who, once having tasted of something sweet is compelled to seek after it repeatedly, God desires to awaken in us a desperate pursuit of Him that will last a lifetime! Drink deeply of His presence and let your heart be ruined by eternity!