“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! The Psalmist makes two comparisons in these verses, and both sound great, but they can be hard to believe” (Psalm 84:10–12).
The doorkeeper was a servant who essentially slept on the threshold of the house, keeping the gate. He was lowly and on the fringes of the household, and this, says verse 10, is better than “dwelling in the tents of the wicked.” It is better to be lowly in God’s house than wealthy and comfortable apart from him. Really?
And if all we got was one day in the presence of God, would it really be better than the best the world has to offer? We struggle to believe that the blessings of God in Christ are that good. I read these words in verse 10, and the exchange rate doesn’t work. Is being lowly in God’s house really better than being richly established in the world? Is one day with God really better than a thousand in the world?
Yes, it is. Because the servants in God’s house will be glorified and will rule, and because a day dwelling with God is not a mere day. A day with the Lord is a different kind of day altogether. To dwell with God in Christ is to live a life measured not by hours and days and months but by eternity. Verse 11 says he is a Sun. That means God is the giver of life, but it also means he is the measurement of times and seasons. A day in the courts of the Lord is eternal day living in the light of his presence; it is unending delight and unlimited blessing. There are no lowly or overlooked servants, no one is on the fringes of the household of God, because dwelling with God in Christ is a never-ending experience of “favor and honor” (v.11)–we will reign with Christ forever!