"How amiable are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God." (Psalm 84:1-2)
The house where the Lord dwells is a most desirable place. The word "amiable" means lovely and lovable. We often speak of an amiable person, meaning one who is lovely in character, and a desirable and pleasant companion. The word is used nowadays of persons, and not a thing; but from the ordinary use of it we have no difficulty in understanding its use in the verse quoted.
Perhaps there are very few who would dare use the words of the second verse, and apply them to themselves; and yet there are none who may not use them. Indeed, if we dare not use them of ourselves we have no right to use them at all; for we cannot speak for anybody but ourselves. We are not commissioned to speak for David, or any other man. Let David speak for himself.
When we read the Bible we ought to put ourselves in the place of the writer. The language which the Holy Spirit puts into the mouth of a man is not for that man alone, but for all men. We are therefore to make it our own, so that it can come, not from our lips only, but from our hearts, as spontaneously as if it had never been uttered by any other man, and had never been written.
It is to be our own language as much as though we ourselves had spoken it by the Holy Spirit. It is only so that the Word becomes to us a living Word.
Let us now see if it is not indeed a fact that every man may use this language of the Psalms, if he will. Nothing is more certain than that in all men there is a desire to change their state. In some form or other we shall find this desire in even the most stolid man. It is natural for man to seek to better their condition.
And one very remarkable thing is that the more one obtains the more he desires. As soon as a man begins to acquire wealth, he begins to desire it more than ever before. Men have a feeling of dissatisfaction. They are conscious of a longing for something that they have not, and they seek to satisfy this longing in various ways.
Some seek to appease it by the accumulation of money, others seek it in political or social influences, and others seek it in pleasures or dissipation. But in none of these things is satisfaction found. The more of these things they have, the more unsatisfied they become.
Now suppose we should see a man continually eating and yet always hungry. He eats a great quantity of food, and yet it does him no good. What should we say of him? That he is not eating the kind of food that he needs. We should say that his system does not demand that kind of food that he is giving it, and that is the reason it does him no good. His system cannot be satisfied with that which it is not calling for, no matter how much he may give it. Give it the food that it really demands, and it will be satisfied.
Even so it is with the souls of men. They long for something that they have not; but the fact that they are not satisfied with what they ordinarily get, shows that they are not really longing for that. They may think that they are, but the fact that it does not satisfy the desire should show them their mistake. The trouble is, they are deceived. They do not know what is good, and what is not. This is why the Lord calls out, "Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and you labor for that which does not satisfy? hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." (Isaiah 55:1-2)
Men spend their money and labor for that which is not bread, and which does not satisfy. The Lord promises food that is good. What is it? Jesus answers, "The bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. ... I am that bread of life." (John 6:33,48)
This is bread that satisfies, because it gives life. So we read of those who flee to the Lord, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house." (Psalm 36:8)
Also the Psalmist says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul. ... Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103:1,5)
Christ is the living bread which satisfies by supplying life. But Christ is God. "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9)
Therefore since the body cries out only for that food which will satisfy its wants, it is true of all men that their heart and flesh are crying out for the living God. Whether they know it or not, it is the fact. Happy is the man who has learned what is good, and what can give true satisfaction, so that he can sing with the spirit and the understanding.
O Christ, in Thee my soul has found,
And found in Thee alone,
The peace and joy I long have sought,
The bliss till now unknown.
Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other name for me;
There's love, and life, and endless joy,
Lord Jesus, found in Thee.
--Unknown author.
--Present Truth, July 25, 1895--Psalm 84:1-2.