Well my title for Psalm 84 is "Longing." If I could peel off the layers and look into your heart, what would I say is the big longing of your heart? If you could ask God for absolutely anything--now be honest--what would it be? What in your life has left you dissatisfied? When you look back on the week and say, "That was a rotten week," why would you say that? Or when you look back on a day and say, "That was a great day!" why would you say that? If you could ask God to change anything in your life, what would it be?
I don't think we think about this a lot, but there's a way in which the direction of your life, your desires--your thoughts, your words, your actions, your choices--are always shaped by the longing of your heart, because the Bible says that we live out of the heart.
I've said this before, but if you take all those verses in the Bible that discuss the heart--some 900 of them--the heart is the causal core of your personhood; the heart is the steering wheel. So, what captures your heart will then shape your life; your life is shaped by longing.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise!
There is no better longing than what is expressed in this Psalm. Again, I don't think that at street level, we think about this much, but there is a hunger that God has placed in the heart of every human being that only can be filled by him. And what we mistakenly do is we try to satisfy that hunger with human acceptance; we try to satisfy that hunger with material things; we try to satisfy that hunger with success, and power, and control and sex and money.
And the fact of the matter is that created things of the earth will never satisfy the longing in your heart. And so, the Psalmist says, "There's this longing inside of me that's only ever going to be satisfied when I'm in your presence." That's what he means by being in your court; it's only ever going to be satisfied by you.
Maybe you're frustrated, and maybe you're discouraged, and wondering what your life is about because you're drinking at a well that doesn't have any water in it. You're eating bread that will never satisfy you. You're looking to be fulfilled by things that cannot fulfill you.
Well, Psalm 84 is in the Bible to confront that. Verse 5 says, "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, (I love this) in whose heart are the highways to Zion." Zion is Jerusalem; that's where the Temple was, and to have a heart with highways in it to Zion means my heart always leads me to God, my heart always runs toward God.
Is that your heart? Do you have a heart who has finally understood that my longing will never be satisfied by anything but God, and so my heart runs to him? Every day I run to him. He's the bread that fills; he's the water that quenches thirst. He is the gift that finally satisfies. That longing in your heart is a longing for him.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. What would you say is the biggest longing of your heart? If you could ask God for absolutely anything, what would it be? If you could ask God to change anything in your life, what would it be? How do these kinds of questions reveal the longing of your heart? What has captured your heart?
2. Where have you personally tried to satisfy the hunger in your heart with anything other than God (material things, human acceptance, success, power, control, sex, money, etc.)? How have you found any and all of those things unsatisfying? In what ways are you frustrated and discouraged because those other avenues aren't addressing your hunger? Why are all those things that aren't God going to let you down?
3. In what ways can you practically shift your perspective from the unsatisfying avenues you pursue toward "highways to Zion"? In what specific ways can you pray and cry out to God to be your satisfaction when you're tempted to run elsewhere?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• When you eat too much of your favorite food and you're really full, you might think that you'll never be able to eat again...but even if you were the fullest you've ever been, you'd still need to eat again. Maybe even later in the same day! Why is that true?
• Have you ever thought, "If I just get that one toy, I'll never want another toy for the rest of my life!"? Well, if you got that toy, did you ever want another toy again? Why do you think that is?
• Why are things like good food and fun toys always going to leave us eventually wanting more (this is called 'unsatisfied')? Why do you think human beings are made to search for what will satisfy them? Do you think there's anything that can satisfy us?
• Why did God create us to only be satisfied in him? What does it look like for us to run to God for satisfaction? How can I help you run to God when you're tempted to go to other places to find satisfaction?
For Older Children:
• What makes you say, "Today was a great day!" or "Today was a rotten day!"? If you could ask God to change anything in your life, what would it be? How does the answer to that question reveal what you long for in your heart of hearts? Do you think if you got what you wanted (and God changed the thing you wanted him to change), that would truly satisfy you? Why or why not?
• Why do you think human beings always have to have more of something in order to feel like they'll be satisfied? If you got more of what you want right now, do you think you'd never want for anything ever again? What do you think is at the core of what people say they're longing for?
• If you're frustrated or discouraged about something right now, what might be at the core of your frustration? Do you think God has designed you to be unsatisfied in created things? Why? How can you and I help each other to look to the only true source of satisfaction (God himself) when we are tempted to look in other places?
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