My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
The psalmist teaches us that separation from the house of God causes the deepest distress, yet nothing, no obstacle whatever, can break the longing of the godly to seek Him. They will find a way where none exists. Better one day in God's tabernacle than a lifetime among the ungodly.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 84:1-12
My soul longeth, it pines, and faints to meet with the saints in the Lord's house. The desire was deep and insatiable—the very soul of the man was yearning for his God. Yea, even fainteth; as though it could not long hold out, but was exhausted with delay.
The psalmist here, being by force restrained from waiting upon God in public ordinances, by the want of them is brought under a more sensible conviction than ever of the worth of them. Observe, I. The wonderful beauty he saw in holy institutions (Psa 84:1): How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
Commenting on Psalm 84:1-7