How lovely is your dwelling place - SusanHow lovely is Your dwelling place
O Lord, God Almighty
My soul yearns, even faints
For the courts of the Lord
My heart and my flesh, cry out for the Living God
How lovely is Your dwelling place
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This is a beautiful song written by a worship leader in my church (FCBC). Her name is Susan and I am currently taking a keyboard course that is conducted by her.
She shared that she wrote this song in 1999, in one of the lowest moment of her life. This simple but powerful song ministered to me when I first joined a cell group in university, at a time when I didn`t even understand the power/meaning of worship.
Living in Tokyo for the 3 years, being away from my cell group and beloved church friends, in the midst of feeling homesick and lonely, I learnt something: God is never far from us. He is always there when we seek Him. God is never bounded by distance or space or time.
His dwelling place is HERE - beside us, around us, surrounding us.
He is LIVING.
Dwelling in Him means to acknowledge His presence, to seek His presence, to boldly soak yourself in His presence. This must be what made the psalmist cry out: "My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."
God is inviting us to come and taste His goodness and once you have tasted His goodness, you will keep craving and yearning for Him.
I can recount the times when I felt like the psalmist; crying out in desperation with my soul, heart and flesh; when I knew that God was the only one who could rescue me from my misery. God was faithful and has been faithful and will be faithful.
But as I am writing this reflection, I felt a stirring in my spirit and God inviting me to dwell in Him DAILY, not only in times of need.
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Psalm 84
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]
7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Selah
9 Look upon our shield, [c] O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty,
blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Sexy cakes (or rather tarts) at Comme Ca Cafe with Charles in Tokyo.
See how the layout/presentation/ambience can make a difference?
