Psalms 84-85

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

A Yearning to be Near to the Lord in Restored Fellowship

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BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Committed believers yearn for fellowship with the Lord.

  2. Committed believers yearn for restoration to the Lord.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Learn the secret of living the good life!

  2. Don’t prevent righteousness and peace from kissing!

QUESTIONS

  1. Who was the author of Psalm 84?

  2. Where was the presence of the Lord focused in the Old Testament?

  3. In verse 10, how did the psalmist describe his great yearning to be close to the Lord?

  4. What was the occasion of Psalm 85?

  5. How have righteousness and peace kissed one another (verse 10) in the Lord Jesus Christ?

ANSWERS

  1. From the title we see that this psalm was either written by one of the descendants of Korah or written by someone else and given to the sons of Korah to be set to music and used in temple worship.

  2. The presence of the Lord in the midst of His people was focused in a special way with the glory of the Lord in the Holy of Holies – first in the Tabernacle and then the Temple.

  3. His yearning was so great that he considered a day in the courts of the Temple as better than 1000 days away from the Temple. To stand humbly at the threshold of the Temple was far better than to live in worldly places where God was not honored.

  4. This psalm may have been written after the return of the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity, or it may refer to another time when God’s people were under attack by enemy forces and God delivered them.

  5. Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to believers and we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Furthermore, our Lord’s future kingdom on this earth will be one of righteousness and peace.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. From Psalm 84:6 we see the principle that committed believers who yearn for fellowship with the Lord will find spiritual refreshment where other uncommitted believers experience spiritual dryness. Discuss how you have experienced either side of this principle in your past.

  2. Psalm 85:1-3 celebrates the past restoration of the people to the Lord. This motivated the psalmist to pray that the Lord would restore and revive them again. Believers who have experienced restoration and close fellowship with the Lord, long to be restored again if they are disciplined for wrongdoing. Have you seen this to be true in your Christian life?

CHALLENGE

  1. The good life is not defined by lots of money, possessions, and vacations. The really good life is to know the Lord as Sun and Shield – the warmth of His love and His protection. The secret to this good life is to walk uprightly. “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11

KEY VERSES

  • “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:10-11

  • “LORD, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.” Psalm 85:1

  • “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.” Psalm 85:10



Psalms, Old Testament, TalksDeb HarmsPsalms 84-85