My Dwelling Place

Consciousness slowly began to invade my dreams as the morning dawned. Daytime was simply a reminder. A reminder of all of the uncertainty and chaos surrounding my family. But my first thought was not worry. It was not uncertainty. It was not even a list of all of the things I needed to do today, including adjusting my work schedule to compensate for being off schedule this week. No, the first thought that pounded my brain was this:

The LORD is my dwelling place.

You see, the biggest concern on my mind right now is where my family will live as of the first week of June.

For nearly five years, we’ve been blessed with an amazingly wonderful parsonage in a delightful rural town. We have planted fruit trees in the yard and grape vines along the back fence. We have room to spread out – and room to line the walls with bookshelves.

But God is moving us. He worked out every detail flawlessly, guiding us with perfect direction every step of the way. Even though the decision was exceedingly hard emotionally, it was very clear. And we’ve been incredibly supported both by our current church family and our brand new one.

The only thing that has not been clear is the housing solution. There are things we crave – permanence; moving only once; space for our children; a place for the cats (for the kids’ sake…).

But this morning, none of those things invaded my thoughts first. Instead, I was given a Scripture-based reminder.

I’ll confess, I can’t find that exact phrasing in the Bible, but I sure can find support for it. My first thoughts go to Psalm 91, a beautiful song of refuge.

But ultimately, two things occur to me related to this early-morning thought:

• The Word of God is alive and powerful. Oh, my dear friend, never ever forget that! How we must immerse ourselves in it! How we must know it well! Even the passages not intentionally committed to memory must be viewed and reviewed over and over again until they are so familiar that the Spirit can bring them to mind. But the memorization doesn’t hurt either!

  Scripture is the number one way our Lord, Savior, Father, Master, Creator, Sustainer, Helper, Healer, Comforter…(I could go on and on) communicates with us. Everything we need is right there. And even in those moments when our consciousness is not active, His Word is. It speaks to us. It pours into us. And it gives us just what we need in that moment, if we will listen.

• The Lord is all we need. Yes, yes, I know that my family still needs physical shelter just a couple of weeks from now. And, we are continually praying that God guides our search and our decision-making process, bringing us to a satisfactory conclusion very soon.

  Ultimately, though, whatever our need – whatever our search – the Lord is the answer. Period. Not a specific house or any other specific provision. Just Him. He is my shelter. My dwelling place. My provision.
  

Do I want an end to our current uncertainty? Yes. Without question. Do I have specific desires related to how the housing problem gets solved? Definitely! I know what I long to have for my family!

But can I trust the Lord even in the uncertainty? Without a doubt.

There will be hard days, just as there already have been. There will be more days when I cry out in frustration and discouragement because nothing seems to be working out. There will be days when I wonder if I’m just not listening well, thinking that’s why God seems to be silent.

But ultimately I can trust Him. And I will trust Him. And once He gives His answer, I can look back on this day and know that He awakened me this morning with His Word on my heart and His promises on my tongue.

The LORD is my dwelling place.