Psalm 84 - 2009.03.07

“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah” — Psalm 84:4

Dr. A.W. Tozer some years ago wrote a book entitled, “Man, the Dwelling Place of God.” Though I have not read it, it is easy to infer his premise, that God’s intention in the creation of man was to make Himself at home in our hearts. In fact initially that was precisely the case: “…The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [Gen. 2:7].” It was this “breath of life” that distinguished man from all the other creatures God made, and that “breath” is His Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word for breath is just as legitimately translated “spirit,” and the apostle Paul, describing redemption, says, “The law of the Spirit of Life…has made me free from the law of sin and death [Rom. 8:2].” Thus when man was created he was, indeed, God-inhabited; the dwelling place of God. The Spirit of God in union with the spirit of man distinguished man from all other creatures and was, in fact, what made him man.

When Adam elected to believe the word of the serpent rather than the word of God, the Spirit of God vacated the spirit of man and man “died” that day (see Gen. 2:17); not physically, not soulishly, but spiritually, and the result is that no man living has ever seen man as God intended man to be, save in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why science cannot, and never will be able to analyze and understand man, because it operates from the false assumption that man as we see him is all that man is intended to be. It is as though you found an automobile in a junkyard without an engine, and assumed you had the whole thing. You never would, nor could, understand it, nor make do what it was designed for.

That, however, is a very hasty look at one end of the story. Our text sets before us the reciprocal. Not only did the original plan intend for man to be the dwelling place of God, but that God should be the dwelling place of man. When a sinner trusts the Savior, the divine arrangement is restored. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart of the redeemed, and the man becomes a habitation of the Most High. That is the essence of salvation. The apostle makes that clear when he says, “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of His [Rom. 8:9].” It is this, the restoration of the Spirit of God to the spirit of man, that constitutes the new birth, and makes man complete again. The ramifications are many, and the process will not be complete until we are glorified. Time and space prohibit a fuller development here, but suffice it to say that when through faith in Christ God takes up His residence in our hearts, it is His will and design that we should make Him our dwelling place as well, for, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house.”

Many, I dare say the majority of believers, know little of the blessing of the Lord because though He by grace has returned to them, they have not made Him their place of permanent residence. The Psalmist understood that when he said in Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” That was his assurance. But, he had an aspiration, recorded in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” (Italics mine.) That is in the present tense. Redeemed, we are not merely to look forward to a future relationship with the living God, but to make Him our present passion.

This is in perfect agreement with the counsel of the Lord Jesus, “Abide in Me, and I in you…” That is reciprocity. And again, “If ye abide in me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” That is the key to prosperity of soul, and they who enter into it are those who “behold the beauty of the Lord.” Subsequently He prayed, “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me…I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one: and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me [John 17:21, 23].” The reciprocal relationship indicated here between the Father and the Son is reflective of what God intends for all who are made children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

And it is here that the evidence begins to mount that it is in abiding (dwelling) in Him (i.e., “in the house of the Lord”) that the blessing of the Lord is found. Those whose relationship with Him is casual know little of the blessing. Those who are abiding in Him experience more of the riches of His grace. David remarks here, “A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (v.10).” And he expresses the confidence, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a Rock [ Ps. 27:5].”

And, it is from that vantage point that we are promoted to continually praising Him. May we aspire to be found as those in whom He dwells, and who are dwelling in Him—all the days of our life!

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier