2nd July 2024
My dwelling place
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2 (NIV)
As I read on in Psalm 90, my first thoughts were that this person was really having a bad day as all seemed to be doom and gloom. It is hard sometimes to get beyond the sadness of the world around us. My reading attributes this psalm to Moses. Truly Moses did experience some very hard times, and he also saw some amazing things that you and I have not; our lives, for the most part, are nothing like his. Yet, we all, as the psalm begins, dwell in God. We truly all have this in common.
Verse two speaks of how the world was born; birthed. We usually do not see life in the mountains and rocks as we are. We are learning more each day about how life can exist in places we thought it could not, such as near volcanic vents under the ocean or dwelling under the ice of a glacier. Yet we do use the word birth in ways such as saying we gave birth to an idea. God gave birth to all things we know of in this world of ours, and in the universe around us. God brought all things into existence. Not only did God birth the world, but he also dwells in it, holding it together with his very own life force. We are blessed beyond our understanding.
In Psalm 90, Moses saw death all around him. He was overwhelmed by it and so he voiced his pain as we often do. He desired the favour of the Lord to rest upon us (v.17). The salvation of the world was a thing he longed for. Though he heard God’s voice and experienced the miracles of God first-hand, he was still in need of reassurance. Are we all so different after all? We all need the touch of God in our lives that tells us: ‘Yes I am here, and I do love you’.
If we look toward the love of the Lord Jesus and all that he has done for us, we hear his voice speaking to us. All that Jesus did was a love letter to us. The wonder of it all is that Jesus loves us and that he is our dwelling place; a place of rest and refuge, a place where life and renewal dwells, a place secure in his love.
Wonder
From the rich brown earth
Where no colour or life lay
Rises new beginnings
That you put on display.
As the sap rises up
And the buds swell and pop
With new life of a leaf
Or a flower on top.
And I gaze and I wonder
At the beauty you gave
At the wonder of life
That rose up from the grave.
Where it slept in the dark
Until you called it by name
And in pure obedience
So, it came.
And in its rising
My life was fully blessed
By the beauty of it
As it was fully dressed.
Prayer
Merciful God, you breathe new life into us each day. We are pleased to dwell in you, for you are a God of Love. You will never change in this, your mercy and grace flow on forever. We praise you God! In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Anne Gillam
About the writer:
Anne Gillam is a retired Pastor in Grace Communion International, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.
Local congregation:
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