Psalm 84

Your Worth is More than Many Sparrows 

"…the very hairs of your head are all numbered, 

do not fear because you are of more value than many sparrows.”   

- Matthew 10:30-31

A Song for temple worship [of the sons of Korah]

 1    How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts!

 2    My soul longs and even yearned for the courts of the Lord—my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

 3    The bird also has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young..

       Even near Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God.

 4    How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.     Selah     

 5    How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion!

 6    Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings.

 7    They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.

 8    O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer… give ear, O God of Jacob!       Selah

 9    Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of our anointed.
10   For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside—

       I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11    For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord gives grace and glory—

       No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12   O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

What a privilege it is for us to go before the Father in prayer... to approach the throne of God with no fear or doubt.  For we are the temple of the living God... just as He has said,

“I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God,

and they shall be My people.   2 Corinthians 6:16

Or  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  
1 Corinthians 3:16 

Moses had pleaded with God to dwell in the midst of the people in (Exodus 34:9), but God warned him that this could prove fatal to such a sinful people as these:
     “For the Lord had said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, 
      You are an  obstinate people;for if I should  go up in your midst for one moment, 
     I would destroy you”  Exodus 33:5

For Israel the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God,  Before Christ, The Spirit of God lived within the walls of the Tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies. The veil that separated himself from the outer courts was made of the thickest finest linen, which no ordinary man dare approach for fear of death.  The tabernacle was constructed and served as a meeting place between God and men, which was no small task, for having God in such close proximity was very dangerous!  

The Soul that Longs for the Lord

After our Lord’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, the veil separating the Holy of Holies was torn in two.  The New Testament gospels have taught us that the dwelling place of God is now the "church",  but not the church building - but the people who are of the body of Christ:

And coming to Him as the living stone rejected by men,  choice and precious in the sight of God, we also are as "living stones,"— being built up as a spiritual house to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  1 Peter 2:4-5, 9

I will be their God, and they shall be my people...
The whole world is God's. But of these that He has chosen, that He purchased to Himself, are we not more special to him whom He has bought with His own blood?  We are brought near to himself—He has set his own heart within us.  He loves us with an everlasting love, that many waters can not quench.   Can you—by faith see yourself in this special place?  Can you look up to heaven and say "My Lord and my God"?  If God the Father is your God, we are His own special and peculiar people, whom He has great favor for.  We are the objects of His choice accepted in Christ His beloved Son.  
Amen.