Psalm 91.9 9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling
place— the Most High, who is my refuge— (ESV)
“You are my hiding place
You always fill my heart
With songs of deliverance
Whenever I am afraid
I will trust in You” -
Selah
Everyone lives somewhere, locale included. Home is where
the heart is – where is your heart? I know it’s in you, but where does it
reside? Not just space but thought, musings, dreams, desires, beliefs; everyone
lives somewhere.
This morning I woke up thinking the uglies and as I am
wont to do, I quickly switched over to thinking about God. Thoughts of God and
His love and perfection help chase away my uglies. My heart lives here in this
home, in this town, in this state, in this country, in this hemisphere, on this
globe, in this galaxy in this universe… but God has become my dwelling place.
The promise of Scripture is: good will come to those who
make God their dwelling place. That doesn’t mean uglies will cease, but when ugly
comes the God-dweller has a place to go to escape. And not just escape the
uglies but be filled with the pretties. God cares about where our hearts reside
and what’s in our hearts. That’s why it is so important to answer the question:
where is your heart?
A source of the uglies for me is thinking wrongly about
the imperfections of others. That’s why I combat the uglies with thoughts about
God’s love and presence and acceptance and power and majesty. But all of what
God has for me is incomplete without His love for those who are annoyingly
imperfect. God seems to be saying, “Deal with it!”
In other words, Paul,
love yourself, accept yourself and all your imperfections, and it will make
dealing with other’s imperfections easier. Our side of heaven will be
located in the incomplete, the confusing, and the imperfect. That’s why it is
important to know where my heart dwells in all of this incomplete, confusion,
and imperfection. (Seriously, I’m not sure I’d know what to do with perfection –
I’m so used to imperfect…)
The dwelling place of my heart is the place where I make
it: where you make your bed is where you’ll
lie down. To make the Lord my dwelling place is to actively and
intentionally turn to God with all that is incomplete, confusing, and imperfect
and know that it is all going to be alright. And to live in God is to make dealing
with all that is wrong around me not right, but bearable. God promises we can
live perfectly well in our present surroundings if our heart’s home is in the
right place: in Him.
He who dwelleth in
the secret place of the Most High, shall abide in the shadows of the Almighty.
And I will say of the Lord: He is my refuge and my fortress – my God in Whom I
will trust… Father, You are my dwelling place…
No comments:
Post a Comment