dwell in the house of the Lord

2.e. “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.”

2 Chronicles 18:1 Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.”

1 Samuel 23:2     Therefore David inquired of the LORD,

Psalms 27:4    One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

1 Samuel 23:9-12  David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”  Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.  Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”  Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”

Jeremiah 21:2    “Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us.

Ezekiel 20:3    “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

How many days go by that we are not inquiring of Jesus Christ? How many issues, trials, troubles, and mixed up days do we seek to handle on our own, define our own plan, and take our own path? Why is it we choose to go through these days alone? Why is it we think we can handle the decision making on our own? Why do we pretend our decision is correct and the outcome will be good for us?

The main reason we go it alone is that we choose to be alone. We intentionally choose to face each moment of each day on our own. We choose NOT to have Jesus and the Holy Spirit in our presence. We choose NOT to seek Him, NOT to listen to Him, NOT to trust Him, NOT to follow Him, NOT to honor Him, NOT to obey Him, and NOT to rely on Him. We seek blessings but do not want to be constantly near and clinging to the One who blesses us. We seek to find satisfaction and purpose in our lives apart from Him.

Don’t receive this the wrong way. We definitely finally run to Him in times of trials but it is the daily moments, the minutes and hours we choose to keep Him away at arm’s length. We choose to be in His presence. We choose to do that which honors, glorifies, and obeys Him. Staying in His word is not a burden but adds a renewing to our heart soul and mind. We choose to stay in His word and hear it speak into our life. We choose to stay in His word to know Him more and more so that our life is not lived for self but for the purpose, He has given to us and how He is leading us. We choose to stay in His word and His presence for it brings life and purpose to our heart and soul that nothing on earth can match or fulfill. We choose Him because He first chose us, and He loved us so much that He gave is life up to redeem us. He died for our sin so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He died so that we might live victoriously. He died so that we would find forgiveness, and know mercy and grace. He died so that we might know true peace, joy, hope, strength, power, and love.

Why is it we go hours on end without even wanting Him in our presence and thoughts? Why is it we do not desire and seek His leading? We can go boldly to the throne of grace, into His presence at all times, and we seem to choose to hide safely behind the curtain until the flames of our issues have all but consumed us before we step into His presence. Choose to come into His presence with thanksgiving, rejoicing, and praise.

1.j. Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

1 Chronicles 22:17 David also commanded all the princes of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, Is not Jehovah your God with you? and hath he not given you rest on every side? for he hath delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.

Deuteronomy 4:29    But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 32:46-47   he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Haggai 1:5    Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

Psalms 27:4    One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life

1 Chronicles 16:11    Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

David brings to the minds of everyone that it is obvious that God is with them because there is rest on every side, the inhabitants have been delivered into David’s hands and the land had been subdued. All of this at the hand of God. What normally happens when there is rest from trials and troubles? What happens when we are prosperous and healthy? Does God’s word stay relevant, important, sustaining, and guiding? Does His word find a place in our heart and mind every day? Do we hunger and thirst for His word? I fear not. I fear we become neglectful and complacent when there is rest from our trials and prosperity abounds.

How do we fight this? We fight it with an intentional choice to humbly seek and desire to serve, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying God more and more each day. We fight neglect by not being neglectful – it is an intentional choice. We fight complacency by not being complacent – it is an intentional choice. We need to be intentional about our commitment and walk with Jesus Christ.

Hear and receive instruction

Isaiah 58:13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

Nehemiah 13:15-22 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

Jeremiah 17:21-27 Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction.

Psalms 27:4 One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Just as joy is more than the absence of sorrow, the Sabbath is more than cessation of labor. Resting in bed all day does not amount to a keeping of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is to be a delight and joy ( Isa 58:13 ). Freedom and liberty seem to have a way to blind our eyes to what it means to walk with God, to hear His whispers of guidance, and to follow Him above all else. In our culture each person must decide whether they will exploit freedom and liberty or curtail them for intelligent and moral ends. In freedom and liberty we choose to do as we will and it can be for the pleasure of ourselves, humbly serving God, or the harm to others. It is in this freedom and liberty that we have opportunity to honor God.

We don’t have to look far into our social culture and how it says; you are good enough and doing enough to please God by your lack of doing bad, that by attending church once per week you have fulfilled your requirement to hear God’s word for the week, setting in place laws where it is your legal right to kill an unborn child, and where pornography is redefined as adult entertainment. The lack of God’s word in our heart and mind leave us wide open to using our cultural freedom and liberty as it pleases us rather than honoring God. We have no knowledge and understanding of what it truly means to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey. We soon find the very freedom and liberty we cherish has slowly dimmed the light of God’s word in our heart to the point of darkness.

Let the light of God’s word feed your heart, mind and soul. Let not a day go by without it being first on your mind in the morning and last thing in your heart at night. Use your freedom and liberty to honor, serve, follow and obey God. We have free will to choose and will be held accountable to Him alone.

In that Day of Trouble/Trial

“And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.”

Psalms 18:6
In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalms 50:15
and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Psalms 130:1-2
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

Mark 14:36
And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Psalms 27:4-5
One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

2 Samuel 22:7
“In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.

Exodus 2:23
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

Psalms 18:17
He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.

Keeping our hope and trust in God seems to be hard at times, especially when it seems we have been calling out to Him with what seems like no reply. Think about the Israelites who suffered year after year as slaves and how long they called out to God for relief. We can be sure our timing is not always God’s. Does the length of time diminish God’s ability, love, or plan at all? No it does not. Each of us needs to be mindful of how easy it is to give up or lose trust in what God can do? In Ephesians it says “God can do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.” In Psalms 46:10 it says ““Be still, and know that I am God;” It is good for us, through trials and troubles, to trust God and be still know that He alone is our refuge and rock. He loves us and He will surely care for us. Remember what is says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord,” One of the Hymns said it like this Trust and obey for there is not other way to be happy in Jesus, trust and obey. God is able – trust Him.