Psalm 84:2

My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psalm 84:2 NIV)
I desperately want to be in the courts of the Lord ’s temple. My heart and my entire being shout for joy to the living God. (Psalms 84:2 NET)

Soul:  the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body; the spiritual part of humans as distinct from the physical part.
Yearn:  to have an earnest or strong desire;
Faint:  feeling weak, dizzy, or exhausted; about to lose consciousness: faint with hunger.
Court:  the residence of a sovereign or other high dignitary; palace.
Heart:  
1.  the center of the total personality, especially with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion: In your heart you know I'm an honest man.
2.  the center of emotion, especially as contrasted to the head as the center of the intellect: His head told him not to fall in love, but his heart had the final say.
3.  capacity for sympathy; feeling; affection: His heart moved him to help the needy.
4.  spirit, courage, or enthusiasm: His heart sank when he walked into the room and saw their gloomy faces.
5.  the innermost or central part of anything: Notre Dame stands in the very heart of Paris.
6.  the vital or essential part; core: the heart of the matter.
Cry:  to utter or pronounce loudly; call out. Or to beg or plead for; implore: to cry mercy.

Here is my paraphrase of the verse:
My desire for The Lord is so strong and focused even to the point of feeling weak physically just for His dwelling place.  My heart, the inner part of me and my flesh, the outer part of me plead for the living God.

In my life, this is a hard concept to grasp.  My physical needs are met when they are just wants, way before they become needs.  This Made to Crave study is helping me understand this concept in a very real way by changing my eating habits.  Yesterday even though I knew that I wasn't hungry, all day my mind kept going back to food.  I would find myself gravitating towards the refrigerator and then resisting.  I guess you could call the refrigerator the dwelling place or court of food!  In this verse, it says my longing for God should be strong like my desire for food was yesterday, and even stronger.  More like my desire was yesterday and being hungry at the same time, since the verse talks about the desire being so strong that I have physical symptoms.  I think the journey we are embarking on is like a modern version of monks in a monestary where they deprive themselves to get closer to God.

I looked at two translations because to me they convey different ideas: cry out for the living God versus shout for joy to the living God.  One seems in desperation and the other seems in triumph.  I think both are valid....maybe one represents us at the beginning of the study and one at the end.

Sometimes it is hard for me in doing a Bible Study with a group to keep my focus on God and not get distracted by the group,  I need to keep reminding myself that God wants my undivided attention and love.  I pray that I will get closer and closer to God so that I can make this verse my personal prayer.