“THEN my head will be exalted above my enemies who surround me; at His sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of JOY; I will sing and make music to the Lord.” ~ Psalm 27:6
*THEN*
The English teacher in me needs to tell you that “then” positioned at the beginning of verse 6 is pointing to something earlier in the Psalm 27 passage. We must go back and read verses 4 & 5 to better understand why this word “then” is used —
“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may DWELL in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple. For in the day of trouble.He will keep me safe in His DWELLING; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.” Psalm 27:4&5
THEN comes joy.
But FIRST I must DWELL with the Lord.
Dwell, then joy.
I can shout for joy at His sacred tent BECAUSE I am safe in His dwelling and hidden in the shelter of His tent.
How hidden? How safe? HIGH upon a rock hidden and safe.
That hidden. That safe.
This psalm was used as the call to worship at a revival service I attended last night. I was there to meet Jesus. To ask for His power and healing. I am praying in faith. Sometimes it feels like a big faith, but mostly it is more mustard seed sized. He tells me that is all I need—the tiny faith of a mustard seed.
I am not sure the size of my faith matters as much as where I choose to DWELL. His word instructs me over and over again to—
To seek Him in His temple
To seek His face.
To seek His righteousness.
To gaze on His beauty.
To dwell in His house.
“Blessed are those who DWELL in your house; they are ever praising you.” Psalm 84: 4
and
“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Psalm 84:10
and
“How lovely is your DWELLING place, Lord Almighty.” Psalm 84:1
Yes, I want to choose joy, but first I must ask myself —Where do I dwell?
Where do I spend my time, my thoughts, my energy, my attention, my focus, my money, my everything.
Where do I dwell each day?
The joy will come. But first I must decide to dwell with the Lord. To stay with Him. To accept His shelter, His shadow, the safe-haven of His holiness.
“Whoever DWELLS in the shelter of the Most High, will REST in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91
This verse has become a bit of a bulwark or hallmark in my life lately. Securely stamped. It is one of the verses I have on repeat in my head when I wake in the middle of the night or when I’m feeling anxious or afraid in the middle of the day. I say it out loud:
JODY who DWELLS in the shelter of the Most High
will REST in the shadow of the Almighty.
She who dwells will rest.
And she who rests will also [then] find joy.
DWELL- REST- JOY.
It is a winning combination.
More importantly, it is a life-giving combination.
Hebrews says it a little differently —
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the JOY set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2
Eyes on Jesus! He is the ultimate example of JOY in the hardest of circumstances. See, if my eyes are on Him then they just can’t be quite so focused on me or on my cancer or on any of my many issues.
Fixing my eyes on Jody causes me to fret.
Fixing my eyes on Jesus encourages me toward faith.
Dwelling on me, I get depressed in my brokenness.
Dwelling on Him, I get to gaze at His beauty.
Remember the old song …
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of this earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”
Can you hear the tune? Sing it today. Whistle it. Write it out on a piece of paper and put it up on your refrigerator door.
Remind yourself where you dwell matters.
Turn your eyes to Him.
Tune our hearts to sing His praise.
DWELL-REST-JOY!
“At His sacred tent, I will sacrifice with shouts of joy.” Psalm 27:6
If you are up for it, I’d love to assign a little extra homework. Can I encourage you this week to spend time in three Psalms where I believe the Lord is encouraging us to DWELL more deeply with Him? Psalm 27, Psalm 91 and Psalm 84.
Maybe use these as part of your quiet time and see for yourself all of the ways in which they beautifully connect and come together.
One last thing I want to share — This week God gave me the sweetest little gift around the word “dwell.” In some research I was doing about Bella’s Chinese name Zhang Xue Zhu, I learned that the “Zhu” part actually has several meanings. We had always thought it meant bamboo, but another meaning is “dwell.” I loved learning that this week almost 15 years after she has been home!
No comments:
Post a Comment