I’ve been meditating on Psalm 84 for the last few days. There’s a lot in that short psalm so I’ve been taking it one verse at a time. It was appropriate that on a Sunday, I should come to verse 4, “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.” As I was reading through some sources, I came across this thought. Be a dweller, not a visitor, in God’s house. To dwell is to live there. Most of us don’t live at our church. Some pastors and their families may live on the property, but I believe there is still a principle here. God’s house was ‘home’ for this psalmist. It’s where he longed to be. It made me wonder, is God’s house ‘home’ for me? Is it somewhere I long to be?
Spurgeon says about this verse, “To come and go is refreshing, but to abide in the place of prayer must be heaven below. To be the guests of God, enjoying the hospitalities of heaven, set apart for holy work, screened from a noisy world, and familiar with sacred things—why this is surely the choicest heritage a son of man can possess.” The phrase that struck a chord with me here is to be screened from a noisy world. We are definitely living in a noisy world!! For my part, I have been around so much sorrow lately, the sorrow of those I care about and some of my own. I know I need the fellowship of other believers to be refreshed. We all do. Galatians 6:2 tells us to bear one another’s burdens. Being an active part of a local church is one of the ways we can do this.
The second half of the verse says they will still be praising God. Spurgeon says, “So near to God, their very life must be adoration…Communion is the mother of adoration. They fail to praise the Lord who wander far from him, but those who dwell in him are always magnifying him.” When we dwell in God and in His house, we will be praising Him. We won’t be able to help ourselves!
This verse ends with that little word, Selah. Spurgeon says, “It is worthwhile to pause and meditate upon the prospect of dwelling with God and praising him throughout eternity.”
I will end with that thought. I hope you will join me in pausing and meditating upon the prospect of dwelling with God and praising Him forever! That thought alone should provide a screen from this noisy world!
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” 
“Being set apart for God is not a punishment. It is not an attempt on God’s part to deprive us or condemn us to a cheerless, joyless lifestyle. It is a privilege–a call to belong, to be cherished, to enter into an intimate love relationship with God Himself; to fit into His grand, eternal plan for this universe; to experience the exquisite joys and purposes for which we were created; to be freed from all that destroys our true happiness.”
“There’s something by Thomas à Kempis: ‘Everywhere I have sought rest and not found it, except sitting in a corner by myself with a book.'”
“This change from the self-centered ways of our sinful heart to the self-sacrificing ways of our Lord will require divine assistance…the Holy Spirit is the divine power behind everything the believer does that will count for God…He is the divine Leader calling attention through His convicting voice to the times when we are intent upon going our own way. He leads us into an understanding of the Scriptures and leads us into ‘paths of righteousness’ that will reflect Christ’s life in us. Those who experience this kind of leadership–away from sin and toward Christ’s likeness–‘are the sons of God.'”
“The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”
“Key to loving God with all our mind is truly experiencing His love for us. On our own power, we cannot change the way we think, but when we draw near to God and spend time getting to know Him by getting to know His Word, He uses the truths there to transform how we think. When we feel weak or overwhelmed by life, He can use Scriptures to give us strength. He can use the truths we find in His Word to fortify us to go on.”
“The heart cannot love what the mind does not know. Yes, it is sinful to acquire knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but acquiring knowledge about One we love, for the sake of loving him more deeply, will always be for our transformation.”
Drinking at the Springs 