Read Psalm 84. This psalm was a suited utterance of David when separated from God’s house (2 Sam. 15). It may express the desire of any saint who through the Spirit thirsts for heaven. And it will be the utterance of the patient, waiting remnant.

In the esteem of this soul there are three orders of blessing: The first one is where there is constant abiding in God’s house, for then unbroken praise is the occupation (Ps. 84:4). The second is where there is traveling up to that house, with occasional refreshment of spirit (v. 5). And the third is where there is trust in God, though in distance from that house with no present prospect of it (v. 12).

Observe, the whole earth was for Jesus at a distance from God’s tabernacle, a dry and thirsty land (Ps. 63). His soul was parched everywhere, save when He met the faith of a poor sinner. Then He had meat to eat and water to drink even there. But God’s presence was everything to Him. And to restore that presence to this apostate earth was, in a sense, the purpose of His visitation to it. The opening and close of His ministry expressed this, for He then cleansed the temple (Jn. 2; Mt. 21)—an action that told of His ridding this earth of defilement that it might be God’s habitation and praise again.

The psalmist finds divine pleasure at the thought of the sparrow and the swallow—representing, as it were, all His creatures—finding their rest in God’s sanctuary, for so it will be in the coming kingdom. The creation, which now groans, will then be delivered into liberty and glory (Rom. 8:19–22).

The spirit of this precious psalm is very comprehensive. All the saints, with Jesus as their leader, may breathe the language of it. Well may it be, as it has been, the enjoyed companion of the meditations of our souls at all times. Oh happy day, when we together reach that house where praise will still and forever be heard!