Psalm 132:3–5, 8
“I will not enter my house or go to my bed – I will allow no sleep to
my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a
dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob. Arise, O LORD, and come to your
resting place, you and the ark of your might. NIV
Those words were spoken by David. He’d become conscious of the
need to bring back to Jerusalem the ark of the Lord, which had been
taken by the Philistines. But he’d come to realize also that he had to
prepare a place, find and prepare a place, before he could invite the
Lord to take up His resting place in the midst of His people. And there’s
an important principle there, we need to prepare a place for the Lord
before we ask Him to take up His residence with us.
There are two great hindrances, I believe, to the Lord dwelling with
us. Each of them in English begins with the letter “p.” The first is pride,
the second is prejudice. As long as we’re arrogant and haughty, we do
not have a place for the Lord. As long as we’re occupied with our own
ways, our own thoughts, our own concepts, we’re determined to make
God act the way we think He ought to act. Those two barriers of pride
and prejudice can keep the Lord from finding a resting place in our hearts
and lives.
So let’s remember that before we invite the Lord to make His resting
place, to come with the ark of His might and bring the fullness of His
presence and His blessing, we have to be sure that we’ve prepared an
appropriate place for God to rest in
