A Resting Place for the Lord
A Resting Place for the Lord
How many times in a week do we come to a point where we long for a little rest? Our lives are busy, perhaps jobs or family obligations take a lot of our attention, and we continue to push through with all our tasks until they are somewhat finished, and we finally get some time to breathe, sit, and rest. And there is nothing wrong with rest; as a matter of fact, God Himself invented rest as we see in Genesis 2:2-3 and later commanded it for our benefit in the law, Exodus 20:8-11.
But our lives can get so busy that another kind of “rest” is even more at risk - a spiritual resting place for the Lord in our lives. We don’t often think about that because we believe and know that the Lord is ever-present in our lives regardless of what we do. But listen to what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:
“1 Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured, 2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 3 “I will not enter my house or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, 5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Psalms 132:1-5)
Written as a song of ascents to be sung as people climbed and traveled the hills on their way to the temple to worship God, the song echoed the events that took place in King David’s life when he had it within his heart to build the temple for the Lord, recorded in 2 Samuel 7:1-2, “1 Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
At some point the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies and it made a noticeable difference in his daily life. So much so that he had time to look at his own estate and the splendor of his royal palace and notice that the ark, and with it the presence of God, still dwelled in the tent which outwardly looked unappealing with its greyish badger skin covering.
David knew the difference between a temporary tent and a permanent house. He spent many days and years of his life on battlefields and traveling, sleeping in temporary and movable shelters. Later, he lived in a permanent palace with all its amenities and luxuries. It was the difference between temporary and permanent, between make-shift and purposefully lasting. King David desired the latter rather than the former for the Lord whom he loved so much. Simply, he wanted the Lord to enjoy the same luxury and comfort of a permanent palace, like he enjoyed himself as king. Anything less bothered him and caused him unrest because he felt selfish in living this way.
I love that. Too often we stress about our daily lives, constantly fixing up our own houses to enjoy their comfort, while we treat the presence of God in our lives as somewhat more flexible, or as an afterthought altogether; as something that will have to fit into our busy lifestyles, like a backpack lunch we get to pull out and enjoy during our breaks. Truth is, even though the Lord desires to have first place and room in our lives, He is not demanding it, much like He also didn’t demand David to build a house for Him. But those of us who felt like David, not being satisfied with the little room we gave to the Lord, and desired to do whatever we could to give the Lord more prominence in our daily lives, experienced the notable difference it made. We noticed how all of a sudden, the time of our day became more meaningful altogether. Not only did our breaks in the day become more enjoyable, but the whole workload seemed lighter too. The days pass and we hardly remember the toil, we mainly remember that the presence of the Lord was there with us. It’s the difference between a flexible, temporary presence in our lives that we tune into when we have a moment, and having our lives become a habitation for the Lord.
May the Lord bless you and show you the riches of His presence today as you go about your ways. May His presence increase, and your daily routine become a habitation for His glory, love, and rest.
How many times in a week do we come to a point where we long for a little rest? Our lives are busy, perhaps jobs or family obligations take a lot of our attention, and we continue to push through with all our tasks until they are somewhat finished, and we finally get some time to breathe, sit, and rest. And there is nothing wrong with rest; as a matter of fact, God Himself invented rest as we see in Genesis 2:2-3 and later commanded it for our benefit in the law, Exodus 20:8-11.
But our lives can get so busy that another kind of “rest” is even more at risk - a spiritual resting place for the Lord in our lives. We don’t often think about that because we believe and know that the Lord is ever-present in our lives regardless of what we do. But listen to what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:
“1 Remember, O LORD, in David's favor, all the hardships he endured, 2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 3 “I will not enter my house or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, 5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Psalms 132:1-5)
Written as a song of ascents to be sung as people climbed and traveled the hills on their way to the temple to worship God, the song echoed the events that took place in King David’s life when he had it within his heart to build the temple for the Lord, recorded in 2 Samuel 7:1-2, “1 Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
At some point the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies and it made a noticeable difference in his daily life. So much so that he had time to look at his own estate and the splendor of his royal palace and notice that the ark, and with it the presence of God, still dwelled in the tent which outwardly looked unappealing with its greyish badger skin covering.
David knew the difference between a temporary tent and a permanent house. He spent many days and years of his life on battlefields and traveling, sleeping in temporary and movable shelters. Later, he lived in a permanent palace with all its amenities and luxuries. It was the difference between temporary and permanent, between make-shift and purposefully lasting. King David desired the latter rather than the former for the Lord whom he loved so much. Simply, he wanted the Lord to enjoy the same luxury and comfort of a permanent palace, like he enjoyed himself as king. Anything less bothered him and caused him unrest because he felt selfish in living this way.
I love that. Too often we stress about our daily lives, constantly fixing up our own houses to enjoy their comfort, while we treat the presence of God in our lives as somewhat more flexible, or as an afterthought altogether; as something that will have to fit into our busy lifestyles, like a backpack lunch we get to pull out and enjoy during our breaks. Truth is, even though the Lord desires to have first place and room in our lives, He is not demanding it, much like He also didn’t demand David to build a house for Him. But those of us who felt like David, not being satisfied with the little room we gave to the Lord, and desired to do whatever we could to give the Lord more prominence in our daily lives, experienced the notable difference it made. We noticed how all of a sudden, the time of our day became more meaningful altogether. Not only did our breaks in the day become more enjoyable, but the whole workload seemed lighter too. The days pass and we hardly remember the toil, we mainly remember that the presence of the Lord was there with us. It’s the difference between a flexible, temporary presence in our lives that we tune into when we have a moment, and having our lives become a habitation for the Lord.
May the Lord bless you and show you the riches of His presence today as you go about your ways. May His presence increase, and your daily routine become a habitation for His glory, love, and rest.
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Thank you Pastor.