Dr. Dan Hayden • 

A house is not a “home” until you live in it. And the reason it’s always good to come home is because that’s where family is. You’ve heard it before – “Home is where the heart is.”

During the summer a shepherd often takes his sheep into the high country for better grazing and cooler weather. Then in the fall he will bring them home to the familiar environment of their own secure pasture lands. It’s always good to come home. But in a real sense, home (for the sheep) is where the shepherd is. In the 23rd Psalm, David concludes by saying, “…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The word for “house” is a word with a variety of applications. It can be a tent, a hut, a mansion, a palace, or a temple. It simply refers to a dwelling place.

 

Now when David talked of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever, he was not referring to the temple, for the temple had not yet been built in David’s day. Sometimes we refer to the church as the House of the Lord. But what we really mean is that that’s where we meet the Lord. He doesn’t actually live there, and neither do we – so it’s not really His house in that sense. What David appears to be saying is that wherever the Lord is, that’s where He will be at all times. David actually envisioned a much larger house than just the temple. Isaiah 66:1 says, “Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will ye build me? saith the Lord.” So in a practical sense, no matter where you go in the world, you’re still in the house of the Lord. Even in death, the Lord is with us, and His abode will be our abode for all of eternity. After all, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also.”
“…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Say – the Lord doesn’t live in the church. Open your eyes – you’re with the Lord wherever you are!