September 2, 2009 - Psalm 84:5-7

I want to appologize for the long pause from the devotionals from the Psalms. I just returned from a mission trip to Europe and did not expect having that many difficulties getting online. I am sure you enjoyed the guest writers devotionals as well! Be blessed
Pastor Dan Lee

Ps 84:5-7 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. NIV

Have you ever considered what really makes a person happy? Psalm 84 gives us an insight into part of the human condition. The term blessed can also be translated happy. “Happy are those whose strength is in you.” There is a deep rooted joy and contentment that fills the inner most being that flows from leaning upon the Lord as our strength. I call this living with a satisfied life. Another passage in the word of God states this reality from a different angle by saying “the joy of the Lord IS my strength.” To really know the Lord and to live in relationship with Him IS the source of true joy and when we live with that deep fulfillment in our days then this joy empowers us to live strong. Personal satisfaction and emotional health are deeply interconnected and the highest level of personal satisfaction is found in intimacy with the Lord as the center
of our lives.
The second aspect of this fulfillment is found in the concept of pilgrimage. When our relationship with the Lord is the center of our joy and meaning in life it results in a detachment from the temptation to find fulfillment in the material things of this life. The psalmist enlarges on this detachment by pointing to the calling that the scriptures place on us to live as strangers and aliens in this world or like Abraham as a pilgrim searching for a city that he cannot see. The place of pilgrimage is the place of knowing that there is something better out there than we have experienced. Though in some settings pilgrimage revolves around a sacred place to the Christian true pilgrimage is centered around our journey to know God as we seek for a destination of intimacy with Him that becomes ever dearer but is constantly afar off until that day that we meet with Him in the fullness that will be available to us in the eternal realms of glory. The essence of this principle is simply stated that true joy is found in the pursuit of God! When we live seeking and reaching we are both constantly hungry for more and joyfully satisfied with the revelation of God that He imparts to us.