Better is One Day

How lovely is your dwelling place,
   LORD Almighty!
 My soul yearns, even faints,
   for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
   for the living God.
 Even the sparrow has found a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
   LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
   they are ever praising you.
Psalm 84:1-4


After reading this passage aloud, slowly and thoughtfully, take some time to let it sink down into your mind and heart. What words or images linger with you?

The thought of reading out loud brings back a flood of memories, mostly bad. "Who wants to read the next paragraph? Todd?" Was I raising my hand? I don't think so. Sure I can read every word but when everyone is listening, I'll forget. I'll flub up. I can almost smell my grade school.

But there really is something to reading a passage like this aloud, especially if you are by yourself. Unless you are a lifeless drone, you have to give it some life as if it were a Shakespearean soliloquy. How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! That's easy to read silently, but reading it out loud, you've got to believe it or it sounds as phony as cardboard cheese. My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD. Do we wake up every morning thinking this or is it pretty foreign, like French?

My heart and my flesh cry out. I have come to know a young and very talented singer-song writer who leads worship where we attend Sundays. The opening verse to his song My Portion Forever is very similar--My flesh and my heart may fail me, but you're the strength of my soul. You're my portion forever.

So again, I am taken to a song. Most of us relate much better to songs than to poetry. Psalms seem more like poetry than music, but I think that's because of the way most of us first heard them. Now there are many songs written from the Psalms. Down a little further in Psalm 84 is the line Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere.  

So better is one day, better is one day, better is one day...than thousands elsewhere. Words and images that linger with you. Songs from the Psalms do that.