The Dwelling Place

Dwell! Despair!  These two words have been stirring in me for weeks. Through my studies, I had decided to choose the word “dwell” for my focus word in the days to come and have researched the word I would hold up as a guide for my life in the coming year.  I love to dig for “hidden treasures” in the bible and I found plenty.  Not only did I find verses with the word dwell in them I found a boundless number of verses that indicated a dwelling place in His love, His care, and His presence. 

Dwell, according to the dictionary means to live in or at a specified place.  I loved the synonyms for it which included abide, lodge, stay, hangout, or hang one’s hat on. 

The definition gave me food for thought as I meandered over these meanings to my “focus word”.  The first word I looked at was “abide” which was many times interchangeable with dwell in scripture.  Reside, live and lodge fit the bill also when it came to dwelling in Christ Jesus for my well being and hope.  I was particularly amused by hanging out and hanging my hat on the things of God. 

While praying, I now often use the word dwell, as in, “Help me to dwell in your wisdom today, Lord”.  “Take away the fear, I sometimes feel, help me to dwell in the shelter of the Most High.”

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 
Psalm 90:1

My heart was gloriously gladdened by the many verses that included “My Word”!

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Psalms 84:1 NLT

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Psalms 90:1 NIV

But then came another word into my mind and heart that caught me off guard.  The word is “despair” or hopelessness.  As I find myself looking at the world around me, I am amazed at the evil that besets us.  Where once there was respect there is none, where there was beauty it is being destroyed and where there were signs of God, those signs have been torn down by the face of Satan.  As I lamented and pined over the deterioration of my country the feeling of despair invaded my heart and very soul.  I found myself no longer “hanging my hat” on His love, My dwelling place was in despair.  How could this be?  How could the enemy transform my thinking so drastically? As I ponder this dilemma, the Lord reminds me of who I am, not who the enemy says I am.  The Creator says I am the daughter of the King!  As I cry out to Him He reminds me that He is my dwelling place and I am to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in the temple.  Psalm 27:4, Psalm 84:1-2 reminds me that my dwelling place is lovely.  My soul yearns even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.


You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Psalms 63:1 NIV

I still seek earnestly the Living Water even in this parched land.  I will dwell in the refuge of His faithfulness! 

DWELL is still a great word for this season of my life, I must be careful where my heart dwells in these trying times.