psalm 84: life is better with god. 34th week friday

Today we reflect of Psalm 84.  I have already reflected with you about this psalm especially about the birds mentioned in the psalm, the sparrow and the swallow which find a home in God's house.

If you look at your bibles, the composers of Psalm 84 are mentioned.  They are the Sons of Korah.  If you remember your bible Korah is the leader of the revolt against Moses.  He led 250 men to revolt against him so that they can change Moses as leader of the exodus to the promised land.  But God punished Korah and his men.  The ground on which they were standing opened and they were swallowed by the earth.  The few that survived, the so called sons of Korah were spared but they were assigned to become servants of the sanctuary.  So it was their task to maintain the temple – to be its door keepers, the janitors, the cleaners, the carpenters.  And so we can appreciate the psalm better with this background especially when it says "one day in your temple is better than a thousand elsewhere.  They can sing from experience of how it is better to be servants in the House of the Lord than to be elsewhere.

The third stanza says:  "Blessed they who dwell in your house! continually they praise you.  Blessed the men whose strength you are!  They go from strength to strength."  Blessed also means happy – happy are those who find a home in God's house.  With the experience of the Sons of Korah this short verse merely affirms that life is better with God.  Life is better with God.  This is what the psalm celebrates.