Dwelling Place

Due to the Corona virus situation, my Bible study class is not able to meet at church this month. I’ve been posting videos for Bible study, every week. They are not specifically for the Psalms class–we have three other classes also–but I tend to read Psalms during stressful times, so I find that every week I talk about a verse or a chapter from Psalms. This week, since we are all at home in our dwelling places a bit more than usual, I talked about the Lord as our Dwelling Place. You can watch the video here, and I will paste in a few verses on this topic from Beachcombing the Psalms.

Dwelling Place

Researching this topic took me on a journey through my Bible. I saw that the Lord has chosen to dwell with us. I also saw that making a conscious choice to dwell with him on a daily basis will influence how close we feel to him. This feeling has nothing to do with our position as his children, but everything to do with peace and joy in our lives.

…You have made the Lord, my refuge, the Most High—
your dwelling place…(Psalm 91:9)
The one who lives under the protection of the Most High
dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)
I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.
(Psalm 27:4)
For we are the temple of the living God, as God has said:  I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
(2 Corinthians 6:16)
So Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word [continually obeying My teachings and living in accordance with them, then] you are truly My disciples. (John 8:31 AMP)
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (I John 2:6 ESV)
The one who habitually keeps His commandments [obeying His word and following His precepts, abides and] remains in Him, and He in him. By this we know and have the proof that He [really] abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us [as a gift]. (I John 3:24 AMP)

At first I thought of a Dwelling Place as a secure place where I could rest and be soothed. Yet as I looked for this concept in the New Testament, I found “abide in my word,” and I saw that abiding is obedience, which of course involves putting what I read into action. I kept praying over these verses and I remembered that rest is obedience also.

Photo credit: Amy Mayfield