Day 59: The Dwelling I Love
Read: Psalm 26:6–12
O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.
— Psalm 26:8 (ESV)
Reflect
"O LORD, I love the habitation of your house." Before David says anything else in this verse, he says he loves where God lives.
The word is ma'on, "habitation" — a dwelling, the place where someone actually lives. Not an office. A home.
Then David piles up ways of naming God's home. "The habitation of your house." "The place where your glory dwells." That last phrase uses a word tied to the tabernacle, the tent where God's presence lived among Israel in the wilderness. Three ways of saying one thing: this is where he is, and I love it here.
The word for glory, once again, comes from a root meaning "heavy": the real, weighty presence of God.
David loves not only truths about God but the place where God has chosen to meet his people. That does not mean doctrine is unimportant; what we believe about God matters a great deal. But David does not only love ideas about God. He loves being where God is.
It is possible to love the idea of God more than the place of God — to enjoy thinking about him while staying away from the places he has promised to meet us.
Across Scripture
Moses prayed, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations" (Psalm 90:1). Psalm 91:9 speaks of the one who has "made the LORD your dwelling place." "The eternal God is your dwelling place" (Deuteronomy 33:27). And Jesus turns the picture inside out: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him" (John 14:23).
Sit With It
You may love the idea of him more than the place of him. This week, go where he has promised to meet you: with his gathered people, now his dwelling place (Ephesians 2:22), in his Word, and in prayer.
Pray
Make me love the place where you live.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.