Psalm 84 | Our Deepest Longing
Our Deepest Longing: Finding True Satisfaction in God's Presence
What do you long for? Not just what you'll eat for lunch or watch on Netflix tonight, but what does your heart truly desire? What keeps you up at night or where does your mind drift when you have nothing to do?
Every one of us is driven by what we want most - our longings, what we set our hearts on. These things shape what we do, how we treat people, and eventually where we end up in life. Psalm 84 speaks directly to this reality, revealing that our deepest cravings are meant for God himself.
What Does It Mean to Long for God?
Psalm 84 begins with these powerful words: "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."
This psalm was a pilgrimage song. God's people would sing it while traveling to Jerusalem for great feasts. As they sang, they were often tired and passing through dangerous valleys. What kept them going was the anticipation of arriving at the Temple - the place where God had promised to meet His people.
The psalmist isn't casually saying "it'll be nice when we get there" like a child asking "are we there yet?" on a road trip. He's declaring that the only thing that will quiet his heart is being near God, being with Him.
Where Do You Find Your Security?
The psalm continues with a beautiful image: "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."
Even the smallest, most fragile creatures find safety at God's altar. His presence is a refuge - providing safety, security, and shelter.
We're all looking for this kind of security, aren't we? We work hard to build financial security. We look for it in relationships, thinking if the right people are with us, we'll be okay. We try to control our circumstances, convinced that if we manage all the details just right, we'll finally feel like we've got it all together.
But none of these things truly hold us up. Money disappears, relationships change, and circumstances often spin out of control. The security we thought we had slips through our fingers.
True security isn't something we build - it's found in God's presence. He doesn't move when everything else around us shakes.
What Happens When We Set Our Hearts on Lesser Things?
If your heart's affections are set on money, your safety rises and falls with the stock market. If your affections are set on people, your security will crumble when they fail you (and they will). But if your heart is set on God himself, you have a security that nothing in this world can shake, because it rests in Him who cannot be moved.
Where do you run to when you want to feel safe? What do you trust to keep you secure when life turns upside down?
Finding Strength for the Journey
The psalm continues: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs."
Notice it doesn't say "blessed are the strong," but "blessed are those whose strength is in you." Real strength is borrowed strength, not our own.
The phrase "in whose heart are the highways to Zion" presents a beautiful image - roads to God literally inside you. It means your heart already knows the direction; your affections are set on Him.
How Do Our Hearts Change Direction?
In addiction recovery, people talk about neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to form new pathways over time. Certain behaviors create deep worn grooves in our brain. But recovery takes advantage of neuroplasticity, and over time, those pathways can be reshaped.
The same happens with spiritual disciplines. When we come to Scripture with our affections set on Christ, when we pray with our hearts fully awake instead of half asleep, over time our instincts change. Instead of religion feeling lifeless or obligatory, it becomes joy-filled and life-giving.
God created our hearts and those pathways. Sin has corrupted them and taught us to seek joy elsewhere. As Augustine said, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds rest in you."
Going Through the Valley
The psalm mentions going through "the valley of Baca" - often translated as "the valley of Weeping." Notice they go through it, not around it.
We all experience valleys - when prayer feels dry, when weeks feel heavy, when depression or grief hangs on longer than expected. But watch what happens: "they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools."
There's both human action and divine provision here. Faith turns toward God - it prays, sings, seeks to be with Jesus. And then God sends rain - grace and mercy are poured out.
As we walk with Jesus, trials don't necessarily go away, but they can be transformed. The valley is still a valley, but it's not a wasteland anymore. The place of desolation becomes a place of provision.
What Happens When We're at the End of Ourselves?
Maybe you're in a valley of weeping right now. Maybe you feel at the end of yourself. You're praying and it feels like your prayers are just hitting the ceiling.
Here's the hope: When your affections are set on God, when the highways of your heart are directed to Him, you don't just endure the valley. God meets you in the midst of it. Bible reading and prayer stop being boxes to check and become springs of thirst-quenching water. Gathered worship stops being a weekly obligation and becomes fresh rain for your soul.
These aren't luxuries for when life is easy - they're the source of the good life itself, on both good days and bad days.
Choosing What Matters Most
The psalmist makes a striking statement: "For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness."
This is a value statement. One day with God is better than a thousand without Him, even if we have everything the world offers. The psalmist would rather have the lowly position with God than access to the VIP suite without Him.
This is the heart of discipleship. Affections drive our choices. If your heart is set on Jesus, you will choose Jesus even when the other option looks bigger, faster, better, or easier.
As C.S. Lewis said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."
How Do Our Choices Reveal Our Hearts?
You will always choose what you treasure. If you treasure comfort, you'll pick whatever looks easiest in the moment when following Jesus costs you something. If you treasure applause, you'll avoid the lowly position when it looks small.
But if your heart is set on Jesus, if you are with Him, experiencing Him for who He is, you will choose to be a doorkeeper with joy, because that's where He is.
The Promise of God's Presence
The psalm concludes: "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you."
God gives both life and protection. His presence is not a spotlight to expose you, but sunlight to revive you. In His presence, you don't just survive - you flourish.
The promise that "no good thing does he withhold" doesn't mean we get everything we want. "Good" is what the Father calls good - not everything easy is good, and not everything hard is bad. And "walking uprightly" isn't sinless perfection but a sincere walking with God - integrity, not perfection.
When God says "not yet" or "not that," is He depriving you? Or is this a Father's wisdom aimed at your deeper joy in Christ? If He is your sun and shield, you're not missing out - you're being kept for what's better, for what's truly good.
Life Application
Every one of us lives from longing. We are all walking roads paved by our affections. The only question is: Where do those roads lead?
To follow Jesus means being with Him. And to be with Him means setting your heart's deepest affections on Him. Wrong longings equal empty wells and stale bread - things that will never satisfy.
Ask yourself these questions this week:
Where are my heart's highways pointed right now?
When life is dry or I find myself in a valley of weeping, what well do I draw from first?
When God says "not yet" to something I want, do I see it as deprivation or as His wisdom for my good?
What practical steps can I take to reorient my affections toward Christ this week?
The good news is that in Jesus, our deepest longings are fully met. He is the true temple where God meets His people, the door into God's courts, the fountain for the thirsty to come and drink without price.
Your life will follow your longing. Where is your heart set today?