Family Corner
OCTOBER 2017
Years 1-10
Psalm 84
Book of Psalms, 1871
1
2
O Lord of hosts, how lovely
The place where thou dost dwell
Thy tabernacles holy
In pleasantness excel.
My soul is longing, fainting,
Jehovah’s courts to see;
My heart and flesh are crying,
O living God, for Thee.
3
Behold the sparrow findeth
A house in which to rest,
The swallow has discovered
Where she may build her nest;
And where, securely sheltered,
Her young she forth may bring;
So Lord of hosts, Thy altars
I seek, my God, my King.
4
5
6
Blest who Thy house inhabit,
They ever give Thee praise;
Blest all whom Thou dost strengthen,
Who love the sacred ways.
Who pass through Baca’s valley,
And make in it a well;
There rains in shower abundant
The pools with water fill.
7
8
9
So they from strength unwearied
Go forward unto strength,
Till they appear in Zion,
Before the Lord at length.
O hear, Lord God of Jacob,
To me an answer yield;
The face of Thy Anointed,
Behold, O God, our Shield.
10 One day excels a thousand,
If spent Thy courts within;
I’ll choose a threshold rather
Than dwell in tents of sin.
11 Our sun and shield Jehovah,
Will grace and glory give;
No good will He deny them
That uprightly do live.
12 O God of hosts, Jehovah,
How blest is every one
Who confidence reposes
On Thee, O Lord, alone.
1 O Lord of hosts, how lovely
The place where thou dost dwell.
Thy tabernacles holy
In pleasantness excel.
TUNE: LLANGLOFFAN 76.76.D
(“O Lord of Hosts, How Lovely”)
Welsh Melody
Years 11-15
Psalm 142
1
2
Unto the Lord my voice I raise,
Unto the Lord my voice now
prays;
Before His face my grief I show
And tell my trouble and my woe.
3 When gloom and sorrow
compass me,
The path I take is known to Thee,
So are the snares that foes do lay
To snare Thy servant in his way.
4
All unprotected, lo, I stand,
No friendly guar-dian at my hand,
No place of flight or refuge near,
And none to whom my soul
is dear.
5
O Lord, my Saviour, now to Thee,
Without a hope beside, I flee,
To Thee, my shelter from the strife,
My portion in the land of life.
6 Be Thou my help when
troubles throng,
For I am weak and foes are strong;
7 My captive soul from prison bring,
And thanks to Thy name
I will sing.
The righteous then shall
gather round
To share the blessing I have found,
Their hearts made glad because
they see
How richly Thou hast dealt with
me.
Psalm 84
“This sacred ode is one of the choicest
of the collection,” says Spurgeon.
“It has a mild radiance about it,” he
continues, “entitling it to be called The
Pearl of the Psalms.” As in Psalms 27,
42, and 43, the Psalmist longs for the
presence of God in the worship of
God, from which he is temporarily
excluded. God’s “dwelling places”
are “lovely” (v 1), he longs for God’s
“courts,” he sings for joy to the “living
God” (v 3). Indeed, nothing can
compare with the delight of God’s
presence amongst His worshiping
people.
For a day in Thy 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. (v 10)
“He had a holy lovesickness upon
him,” says Spurgeon. For him, “God’s
worst is better than the devil’s best.”
Psalm 142
As St. Francis of Assisi lay dying,
his brethren sang Psalms to him.
Repeatedly he returned to Psalm 142
as one for which he had a special
fondness. Written, according to the
superscription, when David was “in
a cave,” hiding no doubt from Saul
(e.g. 1 Sam 22:1; 24:3), it teaches us
“how to order our prayer in times of
distress,” says Spurgeon. “The gloom
of the cave is over this Psalm,” he
continues, “and yet as if standing at
the mouth of it the prophet-poet sees
a bright light a little beyond.”
TUNE: ROCKINGHAM OLD LM (145C)
Based on the Book of Psalms, 1871 and
The Psalter, 1912; altered 1994
PAGE 6
OCTOBER 2017
IPC