The Lord is my light and my salvation—
Psalm 27:1, 4, 5, 13, 14
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid? …
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. …
I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
As I read Psalm 27 I am struck by the Psalmist’s desire to dwell in the house of the Lord. Notice the descriptions of God’s dwelling … house, temple, shelter, sacred tent, rock. Wherever God reveals Himself – that’s His dwelling – and that’s where I want to be!
And then I am reminded of the introduction in John’s book, (1:14), “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The very essence of Christmas is that Christ humbled Himself, took on human flesh, so that He could pitch His tent among us, dwell with us, be our kinsman.
The Psalmist wanted to dwell with God and now God dwells with man. If we have believed, then the Spirit resides in us, and we can seek Him, gaze on His beauty, find safety because He dwells in our hearts!
For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7
Advent – waiting for God, waiting with God!
“One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along, that while we need to be reassured of God’s arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home.
While we wait, we have to trust, to have faith, but it is God’s grace that gives us that faith. As with all spiritual knowledge, two things are true, and equally true, at once. The mind can’t grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul.”
Michelle Blake, The Tentmaker
Let’s think deeply of Him, opening our hearts to know Him better. Sit with Him now, still, confident, seeking, and expecting Him to show Himself faithful.
God is my strong salvation;
what foe have I to fear?
In peril and temptation
my light, my help, is near.
Though hosts encamp around me,
firm to the fight I stand;
what terror can confound me,
with God at my right hand?Place on the Lord reliance;
James Montgomery, 1822
my soul, with courage wait;
God’s truth be thine affiance,
when faint and desolate.
God’s might thy heart shall strengthen,
God’s love thy joy increase;
mercy thy days shall lengthen;
the Lord will give thee peace
Join me in praying this prayer from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – May God strengthen us with power through his Spirit in our inner beings, so that as Christ dwells in our hearts through faith that we will be rooted and grounded in love, and have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
