The Dwelling Place

By Kimberly Hitt

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 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, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” (Psalm 84:1–4)

As I meditated on this passage and asked the Lord what word He had for His people, one thing became clear: His dwelling place is something that every soul longs for. Unbeknownst to even the unbeliever, their soul longs to be in the dwelling place of the Lord. That is why we live in a world where everyone is chasing their own “truth” and their own ideology of happiness. They know something is missing. They chase after a happiness that is fleeting, rather than experiencing the eternal God-given joy that comes from abiding in the secret place with God.

Even the birds try to get close to the dwelling place, the passage says. That is so powerful to me. I wonder if the birds are soothed by the worship in the house of God the way we are by the melodies they wake us up with. I sure hope so.

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“Only a select few could go into the Holy of Holies.”

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All of this is great to ponder. But I believe the Lord has a specific word for us today. That word is that each of us, by the grace of our Lord, has unlimited access to the Holy of Holies.

This is an Old Testament scripture, which means that Jesus had not yet come. So, in order to be in the house of the Lord, you would have had to go to the courts of God to meet with the priests and teachers. Only a select few could go into the Holy of Holies. The dwelling place was a physical place where sacrifices were made, teachings were taught, ceremonies were conducted, and worship was brought before God.

But now … oh, but now! We have the Holy of Holies available to each of us inside the recesses of our very souls. How far we go into the abiding courts of our Lord is no longer contingent upon whether we have an acceptable lamb or a Levite. No! It is only contingent upon how badly our souls “yearn and faint for the courts of the Lord,” and how determined we are for our “heart and flesh to cry out” for more of God.

As a pastor, I thank God that I am able to share this with broken people. I get to tell them that they can worship the Lord and have access to Him right where they are. As a worship leader, I can encourage all saints that their worship, much like the book of Psalms, no longer has to only be adoration but can be filled with every emotion and every circumstance. David wrote about it all. Nothing was left out. But somewhere we as Christians have done away with transparency in worship. The irony of that is that it was David’s ability to be transparent that continuously moved the hand of God.

In Spirit and In Truth

I believe the Lord is rising up Davids even now. It is no longer about religion, but a relationship with the Lord. Our breakthrough is no longer dependent on religious customs, but rather an inward surrender of devotion to God Almighty through Christ Jesus. I love the woman at the well and what Jesus said to her in response to her question about where to worship. She states in John 4:20, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

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“It is about dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.”

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His response to her was so profound: “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (John 4:21). He ends His conversation by saying, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24).

We can serve the Lord for decades. We can carry within us accolades and prestigious titles. We can perform every religious practice to perfection. We can make the physical house of the Lord beautiful in every way. We can know and sing every hymn or popular Christian tune known to man.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

It is not about abiding in a building or singing pretty worship songs. It is about dwelling in the secret place of the Most High (Psalm 91:1). And the pathway to that secret dwelling place is prayer. It’s in the reading of His Holy Word. It’s in worshipping through trials. It’s in crawling to the throne room when you have nothing else and absolutely nothing left. That is when you will no longer just visit the outward courts of God but abide in the secret place of the Almighty.

Let Us Pray

Lord help us to dwell, to abide, to fight for access to Your dwelling place within us. Remove any complacency, temptation, doubt or worry. Deliver us from anything that is hindering us from hearing You. Break down every barrier between us and You in Jesus’ name. Amen.+