The Shpherd's Psalm (Pt. 8)

 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:5-6 ESV).

 

We have come to the close of our brief look at one of the most soul-soothing passages in all the Bible, David triumphantly announced, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v. 6). Being in God’s presence meant everything to David. Even though he could not be said to have been a perfect man, he was “a man after God’s own heart” (cf. Acts 13:22). When David faced the death of his first born son by Bathsheba he took solace from the fact that he believed he shared such a close relationship with the Lord and he could picture himself as a permanent resident in God’s house where he knew that his son lived in eternity. Because death held the promise of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom, David looked forward to the intimate and never-ending fellowship of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever.

We should dig a bit deeper for our own encouragement and strengthening. The word dwell (v. 6) means “to inhabit or live.” The house of the Lord is a term often referring to the tabernacle, the temple, or the place of worship (cf. Psalm 122:1); however, in our reading the phrase speaks explicitly of “a dwelling house, palace, or local residence of a deity.”

The presence of God is the believer’s true home (cf. Psalm 42:1-4). Like David, the apostle Paul was sure that nothing in this life, not even death itself, could separate him from the loving presence of God (cf. Romans 8:38-39). Charles Spurgeon explains it like this:

 

“While I am here I will be a child alone with my God; the whole world will be His house to me; and when I ascend unto the upper chamber I shall not change my company, nor even change the house. I shall only go to dwell in the upper story of the house of the Lord forever.”

 

Before the beginning, during the present, and long after the ending, God IS! That is the truth that holds this declaration as a beacon of hope and encouragement to us. When it seems as if we have nowhere and no one to turn to in our calamity, God is there leading us home to forever dwell!