Yearning for God – The Presidential Prayer Team

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! – Psalm 84:12

Do you have something that you long for with intensity, a desire of your heart? The psalmist for today was seemingly in exile. His greatest desire was to be able to worship the Lord in the holy city of Jerusalem. The sparrows built their nests in the courts of the tabernacle and thus lived in God’s presence. The priests were blessed because they were able to dwell in God’s house “ever singing [God’s] praise.” To the psalmist, “a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:4, 10).

To yearn to be in the temple was to yearn for the living God Himself. For one who thirsts for Him, God is a shield of protection. He is the Lord of Hosts, having all power in heaven and earth, who is able to supply strength to all who rely upon Him. He is the “Sun” to light your way and guide you so you neither veer to the left nor to the right. The Lord bestows favor and honor, withholding no good thing from those who walk uprightly (vs. 11). Blessed is the one who trusts in Him (vs. 12).

Blessed are those who put their confidence in God. Bible commentator Matthew Henry wrote, “If we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we may go by faith to the Lord of the house.” How can you express your gratitude today for the blessing of His constant presence? Let your heart overflow with thanksgiving. Christ has come; if you know Him and believe, His Spirit lives within you! Pray that the people of this nation come to faith in “the Lord of the house.”

Today’s Verse: Psalm 84:12

O Lord of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Philippians 3:1, 7-11, 20-4:1

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

⁷But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

4 Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.