Psalm 84 is about longing and desire. The psalmist longs for the “dwelling places” of God. That longing, that desire, is called blessed and happy. Of course, we all know of desires that are not blessed; there are desires that destroy lives. But longing for God’s presence is deemed one of the greatest goods in Scripture.

God has dwelt in many places. First he inhabited the traveling Tabernacle in the wilderness and then settled down into the Temple that Solomon built. Of course, that Temple was destroyed due to the people of God’s idolatry and God went “nomad” again, appearing to Ezekiel in the mobile throne chariot powered by spectacular beasts and living wheels.

The most startling of God’s habitations was the man Jesus; for the first time God dwelt in a human being that was also divine. As Jesus traveled ancient Palestine, he was a walking, talking temple–the unique place where people encountered God through cleansing, deliverance, and teaching. How lovely indeed is the dwelling place of God, Jesus Christ.

The revolution continued, however, when God took up his dwelling place in the bodies of Jesus’ followers at Pentecost. Now, the place to go to find the dwelling place of God is his people, gathered in congregations and individually. Jesus’ body continues to be the beautiful dwelling place of God on the earth as the Spirit inhabits his people gathered in communities all over the planet. However, we are waiting a final, unhindered dwelling. We long to be clothed with resurrection bodies and inhabit a redeemed Creation where God’s presence pervades and where we will be able to behold our Lord face to face. That is the ultimate dwelling place of God for which the psalmist longs. That is the city which Ezekiel names “YHWH There.”

It remains to point out the practical implication of this longing. The psalmist tells us that those who set their hearts on pilgrimage to God’s dwelling place (whether to gather in home groups as we journey or to ultimately arrive at Heavenly glory) transform the world of sorrow and brokenness in which we travel. We are pilgrims, sojourners through a broken and barren world. But when we have our hearts set on our true home we turn the valleys of sorrow through which we journey into lush lands of springs. This is not because we can make earth into Heaven, but because the Spirit inside us overflows to give others a taste, and hopefully a thirst, for the true dwelling place of mankind: with God.

So, to desire Heaven is not a pipe dream, not a escapist fantasy. It is one of the most down to earth, practical things we can do. I can say it no better than C.S. Lewis:
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”

May God grant us the grace to desire our true home–united to Christ in fellowship with the Father by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.