Psalm 84:6
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
Explanation of this art work.
A heart with a swallow (the pilgrim’s bird) in the centre. In this heart you will see the abstract street plan of the Spanish city of Santiago. Our body, specifically our heart, it a temple where we can meet God. By taking the road inwards, by turning to God, we move like a pilgrim towards God. By doing this continuously, a beaten path will form, as is found in other translations of this verse.
The following quote of Benoit Standaert, a Benedictine, was also a source of inspiration when I created this. ‘Praying can also just to be and to become aware of the desires living at the bottom of my heart. – Jedi Noordegraaf
What is your deepest desire?
Pilgrims are travellers on a journey. Psalm 84 deals with the path of life and reaching for joy. This joy, according to the poet, can be found in the connection of our heart with our living God. The song sings of a back-and-forth between all primal feelings: desire and finding, home sickness and coming back home, complaint and strength. The poet of this psalm has many things in his heart and utters the things he is most desperately in need of. He is someone who craves. Maybe you also know people who are like this. Maybe you are a person like this.
What is your deepest desire?
Psalm 84
For the director of music. According to gittith.
Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young –
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
listen to me, God of Jacob.
Look on our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
Lord Almighty,
blessed is the one who trusts in you.
The art of Jedi Noordegraaf is for sale in his web shop: www.studiovandaar.nl