How Lovely Are Thy Dwelling Places
Today I want to tell you about a song called How Lovely Are Thy Dwelling Places. It came to me way back during the month of November of 1986. I had just been leading worship at my church in Oklahoma City for a few months when this song was born. It began to come to me after reading Psalm 84.
Psalm 84:1-12 NASB
1 For the music director; on the Gittith.
A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
How lovely are Your dwelling places,
LORD of armies!
2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courtyards of the LORD;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 The bird also has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may put her young:
Your altars, LORD of armies, My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You. Selah
5 Blessed is the person whose strength is in You,
In whose heart are the roads [to Zion!]
6 Passing through the Valley of Baca they make it a spring;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 They go from strength to strength,
[Every one of them] appears before God in Zion.
8 LORD God of armies, hear my prayer;
Listen, God of Jacob! Selah
9 See our shield, God,
And look at the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courtyards is better than a thousand [elsewhere.]
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than live in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
12 LORD of armies,
Blessed is the person who trusts in You!
Although it was inspired initially by Psalm 84 and the fact that the Lord’s presence is my dwelling place, the deeper inspiration came from the realization of two other dwelling places. One of those places is the body of Christ itself…the people who make up the body of Christ.
Whenever I see or experience people worshiping together, I feel I am at home…like the very body of Christ is a sanctuary for me…and when I think of all the stories of redeeming love expressing their gratitude to God together I get overwhelmed with just how awesome the healing power of knowing Christ is. It’s like being sheltered in the praises of hundreds of kindred spirits and kindred hearts because we were all redeemed by the same Savior. When I see the body of Christ worshiping Jesus as one, I am overwhelmed with the beauty of the garments of praise clothing those new creations in Christ. And we can take that recognition of the beauty of the body of Christ and boil it down to its lowest common denominator.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and [that] you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19 NASB
I am literally His dwelling place - a temple for His glory. You are literally His dwelling place! Every time I worship Him, I acknowledge this truth and become fully aware of His presence in my life. I love singing this song even after all these years because of the simplicity of this truth.
This song came during November of 1986. I cannot believe I have never given it a wide release before now. When I think of God's presence, I firmly believe I never leave His presence nor does He leave mine. That means that during times when I feel He is not near that I either do not acknowledge Him or I simply forget He is here.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
[If] I take up the wings of the dawn,
[If] I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
[If] I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike [to You.]
Psalm 139:7-12 NASB
Let’s do this, brothers and sisters. Let’s think about the fact that we, as new creations, are His dwelling place. We are the dwelling place of the God of the universe! That should take our breath away. When we see other people of faith, we should honor them as dwelling places of God Almighty. When we see unbelievers, we should extend to them our love as potential dwelling places of our amazing God.
Dennis Jernigan
To hear The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this blog and to hear the song, How Lovely Are Thy Dwelling Places, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/how-lovely-are-thy-dwelling-places/
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