"The Lord Our Dwelling Place"

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"He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

Psalm 91:1-2

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"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations."

Psalm 90:1

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"But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves."

John 17:13

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As I mentioned in my last post, Psalm 91 was on my mind all last weekend. As I prayed for the needs of others, as well as my own, God kept bringing the words of Psalm 91 back to my attention. Saturday morning, as I prayed for a particular need, God seemed to keep reminding me that our safe spot in time of trouble, and our oasis in time of confusion is not a *place*...it is Him. *He* is our refuge. He...not our home...is our dwelling place.

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Sunday morning, as I pondered the events of the *wee hours*, I was hit by the awareness that

"If you make the Most High your dwelling--

Even the Lord, who is my refuge--

Then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent."

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I had decided while I was typing "No Disaster Will Come Near Your Tent" that I need to memorize Psalm 91. I need to daily meditate right now upon God as our refuge and dwelling place. I need to trust recognize and trust that in my own life, and I need to be praying it for others around me who are experiencing huge trials.

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Then came church on Sunday morning. God continues to blow me away in the way that the music Lyndel plans and the words Bro. Kent brings always seem to be put there *just for me*, wherever I am at that point. And yet I know that there are others (and probably many more than I know) for whom they seem just as perfect and personal.

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The choir sang a new-to-us chorus that has spoken *loudly* to me ever since we began learning it:

Bow the Knee

"Bow the knee;

Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.

Bow the Knee;

Lift your eyes toward Heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.

And when you don't understand the purpose of His plan,

In the presence of the King,

Bow the knee."

~Chris Machen and Mike Harland

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I was so struck by the meaning of those words. When our world turns upside down, when nothing about life makes sense, when God's answers to our prayers are nowhere near what we expected...our immediate response should be to "bow the knee". That is the answer. Worship--focusing on Who He is and responding in awe and obedience--is the key. Plain and simple. But how hard do we often make it, and how rarely do we actually practice it!

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Those thoughts had been rolling around in my head for over a week as I've hummed that chorus. They came to mind again as we sang Sunday morning.

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Then Bro. Kent began to preach. I won't type my notes in their entirety here...although it is tempting...but I'll attempt to summarize:

John 17:13

"The world in which we live is just messed up."

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How are we to respond? With JOY.

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Our joy doesn't come from the circumstances around us--God gives us joy even in the midst of a hostile world, even in the face of the greatest evil.

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Definition of Joy: "Joy is the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally great or satisfying."

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This joy is Christ Himself.

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We don't feel joy because we kid ourselves that everything is okay when it really isn't. It isn't about pretending or putting on a happy face. Our only source of joy is Christ Himself...and that is COMPLETELY APART FROM CIRCUMSTANCES.

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Our problem is that we focus on the bad stuff, the circumstances. WE HAVE TO GET OUR FOCUS BACK ON JESUS. How do we do this? Go around thinking about Jesus all the time? YES!

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Memorize and meditate on Scripture. Think on it continually. Sticky-note verses everywhere so you will see them throughout the day!

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Jesus' own prayer for us was that our "joy would be made full." It is His will. If we aren't experiencing it right now it is either because we are not His (not saved), or because our focus is on our circumstances and not on Jesus.

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Col. 3:1-3

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He will protect us from evil. "But bad things are happening to me, bad things have happened to my loved ones." "But...you are still a believer. You still have His forgiveness and approval." No one can pluck you out of His hand. No matter what happens to you, you are protected. There is great joy in knowing that you *are* protected...Satan cannot do anything to you without going through God first. (Job)

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He protects us from defeat and despair and keeps our faith intact--and that is cause for joy! He has *promised* us joy. This joy is in our relationship with Him. Not in any other relationship, not in our circumstances, not in our job or our home or *anything else*...IN HIM.

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When we get discouraged, we must get our focus back on Him. Sit down, open the Bible, and begin to read. Get in the Word, get our focus back on Him, and He has promised to restore our joy.

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Well, so much for summarizing. ;-) I *didn't* type my notes in their *entirety*, but almost. :)

They were too good to leave anything out!

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As I sat and listened Sunday morning, God seemed to tie together the whole lesson He's been teaching me on "The Lord Our Dwelling Place". A friend confirmed those thoughts later that day. Our safe place, our refuge, *is* in Him. And when He is our dwelling...when we are immersed in His Word and who He is...our focus is where it should be, rather than on our circumstances, and we WILL have joy.

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One of the things I have realized I love about this study in the book of John is that much of it is *not* new...many of the verses are verses most of us can quote by heart, and many of the concepts are concepts we have heard all of our lives. And yet...God is using Bro. Kent's words and the circumstances in my life to make it new and fresh as though I am hearing it for the first time. I love the "light-bulb" or "Aha!" moments when a verse I can quote in my sleep suddenly comes alive in a whole new way as God says, "THIS is what I mean by this, and THIS is the answer to what you are struggling with right now!"

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It is so simple, so basic...and yet so hugely, amazingly powerful. "Bow the knee...Dwell in Him...And He will protect you and give you joy."

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(Forgive the spacing issues once more, please. I have yet again attempted to fix the spacing on this post *4* times, and it WILL NOT WORK. Arrgghh. I'll try again in the morning.)

"In the Palm of His Hand"

"If 'God would make manifest the fact that 'He giveth songs in the night', He must first make it night."
~William Taylor

I am thankful for the night, and for the songs He gives in it.
 
Tuesday morning I was pondering a quote I had read earlier in the day here. I had read another take on the quote here.

“Still, accepting God’s existence is one thing; honoring his command is another matter entirely, especially if we’re required to go back when we’d rather go forward.”
~Liz Curtis Higgs

As I pondered Tuesday morning, I thought, "It feels so good to finally be going forward when we have been 'going back', or 'standing still' for so long."

A few hours later, I re-entered the category of "going back" with a vengeance.

I wasn't ready. I didn't want to. I was far from happy about the circumstances we were suddenly in the midst of. My mind flashed back to this quote, and I began to pray that God would give grace and strength to honor and obey when what I really wanted to do was go back to bed and pull the blankets over my head until Christmas.

As I began praying, two things came to my mind, and lodged there for the next 36 hours. The first was the chorus to a song we have been singing in children's choir this month:

"God will make a way
When there seems to be no way.
He works in ways we cannot see;
He will make a way for me.
He will be my guide,
Hold me closely to His side.
With love and strength for each new day,
He will make a way,
He will make a way."
~Don Moen

This song had been on my mind all week, not only because we have been working on it with the children on Wednesdays, but because of an anniversary that occurred on Saturday. Fifteen years ago, this song was part of a musical the adult choir was preparing at my church. I was stuck in traffic on Hwy. 71 at Huntington due to a tractor-trailer rig accident. I was dealing with extreme frustration because I knew the delay was going to make me late for choir rehearsal, and I needed to be there to prepare for the musical. As I sat and fumed, God began to give a very odd peace about the situation, and I settled back with my rehearsal cassette and music to practice on my own as I waited for the road to clear. I don't know how many times I played that tape over and over again, or how many times I sang this song while I sat there. And every time, I listened also to this story of Don Moen writing this song after his nephew was killed in a car accident.

God knew that afternoon that more than I needed to work parts and rhythms with the choir, I needed to be saturated with the scripture, songs, and testimony on that tape. I arrived home too late to even attempt rehearsal, only to discover that my dad and my best friend had been trying to reach me. While I was sitting on the road singing "God Will Make a Way" over and over again, our friend Andy was meeting Jesus face to face...the result of a tragic auto accident.

"God Will Make a Way" has been a favorite song of mine ever since. I remember singing it often, through tears, in the days and weeks after Andy's death. It is one of those that God has used many times since to remind me during other difficult times of the ways He worked during that time, and the ways He has worked during other dark days in the 15 years since.

And once again, God knew that I was going to need those words...and the reminders they bring...this week.

The other thing that God brought to mind almost instantly was this thought:

He will hold you in the palm of His hand.

I wasn't quite sure why, but that image has been on my mind often lately...God holding us in the palm of His hand. Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, I kept repeating to myself, "He is holding us in the palm of His hand..." I talked to the kids about God holding us in His hand, and prayed that God would continue to remind us of that.


Then last night in choir practice (another one of those times I was so tired I wasn't sure how I was going to stay awake through rehearsal, but I knew I *needed* to...), we pulled out a song we've worked on off and on all summer. It's a beautiful song I've loved since we first sight-read it. I had even started to blog about it earlier in the summer...one of those blog posts I've just "never gotten around to". :)

When we got to the last line of the chorus, the tears started streaming as I realized the origin of the word picture I had clung to so tightly during the past 36 hours...

"And hold you in the palm of His hand."

On Eagle's Wings

"You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,
Who abide in his shadow for life,
Say to the Lord,
'My refuge, my rock in Whom I trust!" 
And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand. 
The snare of the fowler will never capture you,
And famine will bring you no fear;
Under His wings your refuge,
His faithfulness your shield.
And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand. 
You need not fear the terror of the night,
Nor the arrow that flies by day;
Though thousands fall about you,
Near you it shall not come.
 For to His angels He's given a command
To guard you in all of your ways;
Upon their hands they will bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 
And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His hand. "
~Michael Joncas(based on Psalm 91)

I am so thankful, again, that He giveth songs in the night. I found the quote by William Taylor earlier this summer. What a light-bulb moment! How much more precious are the songs He gives because of the nights in which they were given...and how much more precious and awesome is the Giver of the songs because of the way He wraps us up in His love and peace and joy through them.

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