Posted by Psalm 26:8
“LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.”
The house of the Lord is always a great place to be. To experience the Presence and majesty of The Lord of the house is an experience we never forget. That experience left David wanting more.
The place where God’s glory dwells in the tabernacle is behind the curtain between the cherubim in the Most Holy Place. Wherever we encounter God’s manifest Presence today is a most holy place.
David felt drawn to God’s Presence, and desired to fellowship nowhere else! David was forever ruined for what is ordinary
Once exposed to the atmosphere of heaven, men and women throughout history have gladly abandoned everything earthly to be in the Presence of God as often as possible. In our passage under consideration David too desired the dwelling place of God more than any place on earth.
He was always placing God before him, because it’s where he finds fullness of joy. He’s shown the path of life by God Himself, thus regaining his bearings in a wayward world.
David loves dwelling in the place where God is at his right hand providing all he’ll ever need in this life. Being with God having eternal pleasures at his right hand, why would he want to live anywhere else?
The Atmosphere of Heaven
Abraham was touched by the atmosphere of heaven in his many encounters with God. He so desired the place where God dwells that it’s written; “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:1).
It is the atmosphere of heaven, the place where the temporal and the eternal meet, the place where love and beauty dwell, where perfect wisdom and knowledge is dispensed, it is the place of the very Presence of the Living God. In His presence is life, and all that is, is the way it’s meant to be.
He is Life itself, He is love, He is light, and just being with Him fills us with peace and joy unspeakable. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and He is everywhere. Is it any wonder the Psalmist would say; “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” (Psalm 84:1-2)? – Of course not.
When we are in God’s manifest Presence we are in perfect reality, the place where the air of heaven meets earth. I’ve always wondered how it is that so many who call themselves Christians could be bored with life, and have no desire to spend regular time alone with God.
My first encounter with God’s Presence invading my space filled me with such awe that I could hardly wait to be alone with Him again. The first time I encountered His voice speaking to my heart, I was “forever ruined for what is ordinary.”
I read that once and wondered what the author meant…until I experienced the same thing myself. How I wish all people would encounter the lover of their souls, and be forever ruined for what is ordinary. – JSP
* Taken in part from my article “In the Atmosphere of Heaven”