Oh, how privileged we are as believers to be the very dwelling place of God Almighty, Maker of the heavens and the earth, King of kings, Lord of ALL!
Psalm 119:9-16 – Bet
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word (NIV).
Psalm 119 is an acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet with eight verses dedicated to each letter, and every verse mentioning God’s Word. Verses one through eight all begin with the Hebrew letter Aleph, which you can read about here. Today’s verses all begin with the Hebrew letter Bet.
Bet or beth means “dwelling” or “house.” The ancient pictograph looked like a tent.
The very first letter of the Bible is bet. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth because He wanted to create a people with whom He could dwell. From the Garden to the Tabernacle, God’s desire has been to dwell among us.
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them (Exodus 25:8).
I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people (Leviticus 25:12).
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him “Immanuel” – which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling [tabernacled] among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
Not only does God desire to dwell among us, but if we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, He comes to dwell within us.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:22).
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:16-17).
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16).
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
So what does all of this have to do with Psalm 119:9-16, you may ask? EVERYTHING!
The Psalmist begins with a question, “How can a young man keep his way pure?’ That’s a good question, and it applies to each of us – man, woman, and child. He answers his own question – by living in the Word and the Word living in us.
Hallelujah! That’s why the Word became flesh! Colossians 3:16 tells us to let that Word dwell richly within us. I love that! Because now it’s up to us to let that Word dwell in us. We get to choose how much of us we let Him have. We get to choose how much of His Word we soak up on a daily basis, how much of His presence we seek in our life.
My prayer is that you are falling more deeply in love with Christ and His Word every day.
One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple (Psalm 27:4).
The house of the Lord is the place where He dwells by His Spirit and His Word. Won’t you make His house your home?