1
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
2My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
I smiled when I read the first verse of this psalm. I could just imagine what a feeling the writer of this psalm had when he saw the temple of God, how much his soul yearned to be in His presence, to stay and serve in His temple.
This is the reason why every year Israelites would go on a pilgrimage, no matter how far they were, to be in the Lord's temple. The joy of being in His presence, a privilege that even sparrows had as they laid their nests there. It was a joy to travel, and the joy in their hearts turned deserts into streams of water!
There is nothing better than enjoying the presence of God in His dwelling place.
Believers in Christ today can enjoy the same thing. But how many of us realize that God's presence is not just in a church building, nor just in the fellowship of fellow believers? I use the word "just" because yes, when believers gather to worship in a church building God is there, and when believers gather to fellowship and talk about God He is there.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV)
16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
But sometimes there's another place that believers miss out on with regards to God's presence - our own hearts, our own bodies!
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
Our body, we individually, are a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are His temple! Why? Because He resides in us!
Colossians 1:27 (NIV)
27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in us! The indwelling presence of our God in us makes us His temple, His dwelling place.
Our pilgrimage to worship and see how lovely our God is not in a trek or travel to a place, or a building. He is right in our hearts. When we spend time in worship, prayer, meditation and listening to Him speak to us through His Word and through the Spirit teaching us - that's our pilgrimage. And what a joy it is to just sit and enjoy the presence of God. There is no greater joy than this. Truly how lovely is Your dwelling place Almighty God!
Sadly, many of us miss out on this everyday!
Oh, may all our hearts sing just like the psalmist - How lovely is your dwelling place! may we sing this every day, every moment of our life!
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