I think I found my Manna for the day. Psalm 84:1-12, I'm not going to post it all, you're just going to have to look it up if you're interested, but verse 1 says, "How lovely is Your dwelling place, oh Lord Almighty". This kind of takes on new significance in the New Testament where the dwelling place of the Almighty moves from a building or tent built by hands to dwelling in His people, individually and corporately.
Applying verse 1 to believers corporately is easy enough for me, most times. Last night for example, lovely! Our Life Group (aka Home Group, Small Group), as the dwelling place of God is lovely. We spent some time worshiping together, discussing the Word and praying for each other - God dwelling in His people, this was "lovely". Even applying it to other individuals isn't a stretch for me. I see God reflected in many of the people I know and recognizing the presence of the Most High in someone is a beautiful thing. Where it gets tough for me is on a personal level. I think that's what God's talking about,to me, today. He doesn't see me as a weathered, falling apart shack that would be better off with a match put to it, He sees me as "lovely". Me. Battered, wounded, self absorbed me! I am a place He CHOOSES to dwell. He's not here because it was the only vacancy in town and He needed someplace to stay, He's here because this is where He chose to be. In fact, He evicted the last resident so He could live here. He says, this "dwelling place" is lovely.
So, I need to start seeing me through His eyes. I need to stop focussing on my hurts, my wounds and my failures and start seeing me as He sees me and then walking in that. If I focus on my wounds I will live like a cripple. If I focus on the Almighty, I can live in His victory! What a choice. Recognizing who I am, in Him, positionally, I get to choose whether I walk as a cripple or victorious as what He sees me as.
And that, was my manna for today.
3 comments:
Well done... I really enjoyed reading this!
Thanks C., I really needed to hear this today. Going to spend sometime in that verse. Lately I've been focusing all too much on my shack that seems to be falling in on me. Keep up the good writing, I look forward to more!
That's good encouragement. Just the other day, I was running myself down in a way that totally contradicts the truth you've highlighted here. It's not easy to look in the mirror some days and agree with what you've shared here, but it's what God wants us to do. And He wants it to encourage us. Thanks for reminding me of this Clinton.
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