Weekly Sermons

Psalm 84 Worksheet

What is different in the heading of Psalm 84 from others we have read so far in Book 3 of the Psalms (Psalms 72-89)?

4 of the last 6 Psalms in Book 3 of the Psalms will be by the Sons of Korah. They had written 7 of the Psalms that appeared in Book 2. Some of them were the ______________________________ for the Temple (1 Chronicles 26:1). 

Psalm 84 reads like the Psalms of _______________________ we will come to (Psalms 120-134). Perhaps it too was sung on the way to worship at Jerusalem!

Psalm 84 easily divides into three 4-verse stanzas marked by the Selah divisions.

As I read the Psalm look for a name of God that occurs 4 times in the Psalm. Also look for another word that occurs in each of the 3 stanzas.

The word for ______________________ opens Psalm 1 and closes Psalm 2, another “call-back” to those foundational Psalms!

 

__________________________ devotion for God and His house                                                 V. 1-4

Heartcheck time: Do verses 1-2 come anywhere close to expressing the feeling you have when you think about coming to church? The Psalmist didn’t go to the Temple with a sense of “have-to,” but “____________________ to”!

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.                -John 17:3

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD!”                           -Psalm 122:1

Perhaps in verse 3 the Psalmist is reflecting on getting to see birds flying and in their nests with their young as they walked to Jerusalem. They are saying that their home is with God!

Verse 4 makes you wonder if the priests and the singers and the gatekeepers often heard _______________ exclaim how fortunate they were to get to live and minister at the Temple complex.

Psalm 134, the final Psalm of Ascent.

 

___________________________ to worship God at His house                                                      V. 5-8

What does he have in mind by pilgrimage?

Going from wherever he lived to the Feasts in Jerusalem, or any other time he was able to go “________” to worship there. Spiritually speaking, Jerusalem is “up” above every other place, so it was called going “up.”

Baca means “weeping” or also balsam trees. Coming into Jerusalem from the west you’d see some balsam trees. Perhaps the Psalmist had passed through rain as he went to Jerusalem. Weeping also makes us think of the many times we are going to church after it has been a ____________________ week.

Verse 7 contains some irony – the longer walk the more weak and weary you become. But when you greatly anticipate what _____________________ you when you arrive, you actually feel stronger as you get close to arriving. In this case, arrival means getting to appear before God in the place He is worshipped in a special way!

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of God.                                   -2 Cor. 3:18

Verse 8 ends this stanza with a personal prayer for this strength that comes from God!

 

More gushy ____________________ to God                                                                            V. 9-12

Verse 9 is a corporate prayer that celebrates the _________________________, the one who will cause us to go from strength to strength, from glory to glory!

Verse 10 should be all of our heart’s cry – that we would be found ministering in God’s house and for Him _______________________ than found in sinful places pleasing Satan.

God gives us grace now – common grace as we live, saving grace to have faith in Jesus. One day we will be with Him in glory!

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.                                              -1 Peter 5:10

This delightful Psalm ends the same way Psalm 2 does – Blessed is the person who _______________ in God!