Scripture: Psalm 147:1
Journal: Where and how does the word fitting describe your life and faith
these days? What about the words good
and pleasant? What situations
or activities or practices make you feel most “at home?” What about praise? How will you make praise a regular part of your
life?
Reflection:
So I leave today to lead a silent retreat for
a group of “twenty-somethings” living and working in Knoxville. And as I do, I have long been aware of a
strange dynamic that takes place within me whenever I leave to go and do whatever
it is that God has called me to go and do.
There is a definite sense of excitement (most times) about the people
and the place and the time that we will spend together. But there is also a sense of sadness, even
when I am really excited about where I am going and what I am doing. I have always attributed this sadness to the
constant sense of anxiety that I live with on a daily basis; my thorn in the
flesh, if you will. Or, should I say, one
of my thorns—at least Paul only had one, right?
But today as I was praying
Psalm 147, God met me in a really sweet way.
He gave me a bit of an epiphany.
One of my dear, and very wise, friends always says, when praying the
Psalms, we should “Listen to the words of the ancient prayer and listen for
the prayer of God that rises in our hearts.” Well, today what rose in my heart was the
word “fitting.” For some reason
that word just leapt off the page. So I
stopped, and I asked God what it was about that word that made it his word for
me today. And as I meditated on the word
fitting, and began to dig down a little deeper (quarrying instead of
strip mining it), I discovered that the Hebrew word translated as fitting (in
Psalm 147:1) is probably most accurately translated to be at home. As in, we are most at home, most ourselves,
most who we were made to be, when we are praising God. That’s when it hit me: I love to be
home. When I am at home I am most at
peace and most at rest—most myself in a really beautiful way. And I hate to leave home; that’s where the
sadness comes in. And thus, this sadness
is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a
very, very good thing—the Genesis 1 kind of good.
That’s when God began to
really answer the question of why this word (fitting) was my word for the
day. “You love home. You love being at home. And that is a very, very good thing. I actually made you to be at home; that’s
what life with me was intended to be.
And the way you feel when you are at home is the way I made you to feel
all the time—in me. I am your true
home. And you do not have to be at your
house to be at home in me. That can take
place wherever you go and whatever you do.
All you have to do is choose to be at home in me. Choose praise. Choose joy.
Choose gladness. Choose
life. Choose to make your home in me, just
as I have made my home in you. Now that
is good, and pleasant, and fitting!”
So please pray that no
matter where I am, or what I do, I will learn how to always know and experience
the joy of being at home—in Him.
Prayer
Closing
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are my true home. It is good and pleasant and fitting that I
should make my home in you. Help me to
do just that, as you make your home in me.
Amen.
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