How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place
BRD REFLECTIONS:
1 Kings 11:1-43 and Psalm 84 (NIV)
(Suzanne Yong, PTM Prayer & Praise)
READ:
I read the whole of 1 Kings 11 and Psalm 84. (AMP, CJB and NIV)
OBSERVE:
1 Kings 11 records the spiritual decline of Solomon and its consequences. Psalm 84 contrasts this with the blessed life in God’s presence.
APPLY:
A church I attended supported some re-building efforts in a war-torn nation still rife with violent skirmishes between government and rebel forces. Once, while en-route to a village where the community ministry was based, the church team came upon a horrifying aftermath of a clash – there were chaos and dead bodies everywhere. The team helped in whatever ways they could before moving on. When they reached the base, the deeply-shaken team went into the village chapel for some much-needed time of prayer and processing what they had encountered, before preparing for a worship meeting that evening. They recalled the experience of going from such a shocking scene to the peace and order of prayer and worship in the chapel to be very jarring, but they were more grateful than ever to be able to do the latter.
This story, as with Psalm 84, has kept me thankful for the privileges of peace and houses-of-worship, as well as the nearness and access to the beauty, protection and in-dwelling presence of God in my life. I think such is the strength, joy and blessedness of life that may be had by coming under the great authority and deep relationship with the Warrior-King and God of Hosts – for the darker the times and the greater the tumult, the more I realise the depth of my helplessness and need for Him, and the deeper He enables me to dig and cling harder to the Source of Life that is Him (John 4:14; 6:28; 7:38). This reliance will keep me from the folly of Solomon, the futility of human wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:2) and tragedy of defiance (1 Kings 11).
DO:
Seek and spend time waiting on God; be irrevocably and tightly entwined to Him. Find strength and commit to living according to His leadership and joy.
PRAY:
Bless me with great love and desire for Your presence (Psalm 84:2); enable me to dwell perpetually in Your house. Set my heart on “the highways to Zion” (Psalm 84:5); rain upon the parched valleys-of-weeping in my life and turn them into springs of blessing (Psalm 84:6). May I see You and grow from strength to strength, and increase in joy, confident hope and faith as I commit my whole being to You (Psalm 84:7, 10-12). In Jesus’ Name, I ask and pray, Amen.
