How is a day in God's courts better than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10)?

"For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," (v. 10). A young believer once asked a brother "A thousand what"? His reply was, "A thousand of anything, anywhere else" — perhaps the best instruction to be derived from this statement. The margin gives "at the threshold" as the meaning of "doorkeeper." There is a joy and satisfaction experienced at the very entrance to the circle of divine blessing which could never be found at the heart of a world dominated by Satan. Hence these verses would indicate entrance into the dwelling where God is served, and exit from this world where Satan is served.

"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand," that is, better than a thousand days anywhere else. Just to be in His presence is unspeakable joy. The psalmist would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. A doorkeeper is not popular with people, for he is responsible to see that those who ought to be out are kept out, and only those admitted who ought to be in. But even the least appreciated work in God's house is far better than dwelling in the tents of wickedness. Of course, tents too are temporary in contrast to the permanency of the house of God.

Psalm 84:10. "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Those who only know the pleasures of the tents of wickedness, can have no proper conception of the true, solid, lasting pleasures of the courts of the Lord. Those who know both can speak positively of the difference. Who that has spent a day with God in spirit and in the varying exercises of meditation and devotion, cannot speak of its blessedness? But the testimony of scripture on the subject is full and safer to judge from.

In the light of the coming glory, the world and all that it can offer is left behind. What can the tents of wickedness offer in comparison with the courts of the Lord? A day in His courts is better than a thousand spent in the most favourable circumstances in the dwellings of men. At best the world has but a temporary tent for its dwelling: the Lord brings us to an eternal home.

With the God of power and grace before his soul; blessed and accepted in the Anointed; with His back on the world and his face to the glory, the believer can pursue his way in all the blessed sense that God is a sun and a shield. He is a light to guide us in a dark world, and a shield to protect us from an evil world. Day by day, He gives the needed grace; and grace begun on earth will end in glory on high. Nothing but glory is the suited answer to His grace. The eternal weight of glory is the only adequate answer to the exceeding riches of His grace. At the start of our journey grace sought and found us, at the end glory awaits us. Between the grace at the start and the glory at the end, "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly."

"For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand." It is singular to see how this follows on the last verse. You observe the opening of the psalm, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" Why tabernacles? At this time, as you know, the temple was not built. When David brought the ark from Kirjath-jearim he pitched a tent for it. Where the ark, the symbol of Jehovah's presence, went, there went Jehovah. Jehovah's throne in Israel was the golden Lid of the ark, and to come where the ark was was to appear before God.

Why were the tabernacles so amiable? There is always a charm about that word — amiable, lovable. What made the tabernacles so lovely, so desirable? Was it the material of which they were formed? "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." This was what gave all the beauty and loveliness — God was there, the One who had done such great things for His people. That was why the psalmist delighted to be in the courts of the Lord. We must rejoice to be in His presence since He has done so much for us. So Paul says, "We also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And Peter, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." To know yourself as the object of God's love and care, to know that He claims you for Himself, this gives exceeding joy, beyond anything else.

Verse 10. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Many of God's children are satisfied with being at the door, and there are even some who keep themselves outside, while we ought to enter in and dwell in the house. Yet, if our unbelief, or the lusts of our heart, which desires other objects than God, hinder us from advancing, we have at least "the door," for Christ is "the door"; and "the door," though it be the door only, is worth more than all that is in the world.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Did the psalmist so delight in being where God was? Well, you see the application to ourselves. The Lord said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." How far do we really believe that? Do we love to be where He is? For there is something very special in that. The heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain Him, I know, but He gives this special promise to those gathered to His name. We should love to be there; it may be a poor company, for "not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." When the Lord Jesus was on earth He was not found in palaces and in the mansions of the great. The home at Bethany was where He delighted to be. He stooped to the grave for us, and He deigns now to be with us. His love it is that brings Him there.

"I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." It is easy to see the force of that. The doorkeeper has to be first to admit others, and has to remain till the last; he is there longest of all. In the margin it reads, "I would choose rather to sit at the threshold." We get a different thought in this; he is content with the threshold, the lowest place, so long as he is in God's presence. Was God there? He would be there too. He longed to be thus in communion with God, so consciously near. And this is what the new nature longs for. We delight to have it so, and to be searched out, so that there be nothing to hinder communion at all.

Let us read verses 10 and 11 together. "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Here we have a cluster of reasons — what He is, what He will give, and what He will not withhold. Surely these are comprehensive things.

We want the presence of God, and if anyone said to us, "Why do you want the presence of God? Why is it that you say in the language of the Psalmist that 'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand,' and 'I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness'?" we could reply, "First because of what God is, and then because of what He gives."

The Psalm opens with an expression of delight in the house of God — "How amiable [or how "lovely"] are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts." The godly soul sees that he is called to dwell with God, in God's own dwelling. What makes that dwelling so lovely to the soul of the Psalmist is that God Himself is there — the living God. Everything in those courts speaks of the glory of God. There God is fully displayed, and being fully displayed can be fully known. The soul longs to reach those courts of glory, the heart and the flesh cannot be satisfied apart from the living.

When everything around is stagnant and decaying, the whole earth having proven to be under the sentence of death, the psalmist is drawn to the one vital exception to this degradation, that is, the tabernacle of the Lord of hosts. For every renewed heart cries out for that which is vital and living, and the dwelling place of God is the one location where Israel will find blessing in the coming day. If so for Israel at that time, how much more should believers now be drawn to desire the dwelling of God, that is, the Church, which is "a spiritual house" composed of all whose faith is in the Lord Jesus. Beyond this also, the courts of heaven's glory are set before us as an object of our great desire, that is, to be with the Lord forever. If the earthly tabernacle will be "lovely," how much more the Father's house to which we shall soon be brought!

Thus, we are told, "My soul longs, yes even faints for the courts of the Lord" (v. 2). Have we not had enough in this world that is so contrary to the sweetness of the presence of the Lord Jesus? For it is not only for the dwelling place that the heart cries out, but for the living God Himself, whom we know to be fully revealed in His beloved Son.