Psalm 84:8

EXPOSITION

Verse 8. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give me to go up to thy house, or if I may not do so, yet let my cry be heard. Thou listenest to the united supplications of thy saints, but do not shut out my solitary petition, unworthy though I be.

Give ear, O God of Jacob. Though Jehovah of hosts, thou art also the covenant God of solitary pleaders like Jacob; regard thou, then, my plaintive supplication. I wrestle here alone with thee, while the company of thy people have gone on before me to happier scenes, and I beseech thee bless me; for I am resolved to hold thee till thou speak the word of grace into my soul. The repetition of the request for an answer to his prayer denotes his eagerness for a blessing. What a mercy it is that if we cannot gather with the saints, we can still speak to their Master.

Selah. A pause was needed after a cry so vehement, a prayer so earnest.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 8. There are two distinct thoughts of great practical value to the Christian, in this short prayer. There is the sense of divine majesty, and the consciousness of divine relationship. As Lord of hosts, he is almighty in power; as the God of Jacob, he is infinite in mercy and goodness to his people. Things New and Old.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 8. There is,

1. Progression. They go;
   1. The people of God cannot remain stationary;
   2. They must not recede;
   3. They should always be advancing.
   4. Invigoration. From strength to strength.
   5. From one ordinance to another;
   6. from one duty to another;
   7. from one grace to another;
   8. from one degree of grace to another. Add faith to faith, virtue to virtue, knowledge to knowledge, etc.
   9. Completion. Every one of them, etc. G. R.

Verse 8.

1. Prayer is not confined to the Sanctuary. David, in
   his banishment, says, Hear my prayer.
   
2. Help is not confined to the Sanctuary. The Lord of
   hosts is "here," as well as in his tabernacle. See
   Psalms 84:1.
   .
   
3. Grace is not confined to the Sanctuary. Here, too,
   in the wilderness is the covenanting God, the God of
   Jacob. G. R.

Verse 8. Pleas for answers to prayer in the titles here used.

1. He is JEHOVAH, the living, all wise, all powerful,
   faithful, gracious, and immutable God.
   
2. He is God of hosts, having abundant agencies under
   his control; he can send angels, restrain devils,
   actuate good men, overrule bad men, and govern all
   other agents.
   
3. He is the God of Jacob, of chosen Jacob, as seen in
   Jacob's dream; God of Jacob in his banishment, in his
   wrestling (and so a God overcome by prayer), God
   pardoning Jacob's sins, God preserving Jacob and his
   seed after him.