Psalm 140: 13
Certainly the righteous will give thanks to Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.
Clearly there are two parts to this verse. I confess, it was the latter which drew my attention. The question this verse presents is, will the righteous give thanks and the upright dwell in God’s presence only in heaven or is this verse meant to suggest life on earth experiences. For it to have great attractiveness for me, it needs to speak of our human existence in the earth and I believe it does.
What is the epiphany of Holy Spirit inspired language about us giving thanks to God when we all move to heaven, or for that matter, where is the great revelation in exposing an afterlife spent in the presence of God? Those are great truths and good news, but the truly remarkable thought is that these two declarations describe life here on earth. We can also know this by the preceding language. Verse 12 reads, “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.” There are no afflicted or poor in heaven, no need for God to justly defend them. Therefore, we know the author wrote about an earthly condition in which it is possible to live in God’s presence.
That is what is attractive about this verse, living, dwelling daily in His presence. The glory of God has been sent into the earth to dwell among men. But wait, the best is yet to come. Jesus described this Holy presence as the inhabitation of the Spirit of God within us. We are the temple of the Most Holy. I know that sounds like just a bunch of “church words” but if we are to think of them literally rather than poetically see what an amazing idea His indwelling presence really is. The Apostle Paul said that nothing could in any way separate us from the love of God. Well, I guess not if we openly allow the Spirit to integrate with us in a meaningful way. I mean to say, this isn’t a churchy experience as much as a daily one when we allow the Spirit to expand into every part of our being and our lives. This living in and with the presence of God can become as real to us as living with our families. For some people living with God became more substantive than their existence with people. I have read of nuns and monks for whom the reality of God’s presence was encompassing. I am not suggesting we must live as monks but rather use their lives as evidence that this God of whom we speak, Yahweh, our true Father, can and will live with us as much as we can allow. The more we grow spiritually, the more capacity we have for sharing our lives with the three people of Divinity. We can long for just a bit more every day and then, by the end of summer, we will have a SONtan from all the time spent in his presence. That idea warms my heart, partially because I know it is an ever-increasing possibility. Seek Him. Know Him and invite Him into your everyday existence.
