by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids,Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.  Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength (Psalm 132:1-8 (KJV).

There is a passion and a desire that is seen in the heart of the subject in this Psalm, such that he was willing to set aside his comfort, until he found a place for God. Where is the passion in your heart? Going to bed as is seen in verse 3 has many connotation.  Most times when we retreat to our resting places, we say that we are tired or that we have an event that we need to prepare for. But there is a priority that God is drawing our attention to – having a passion for Him, passion and the associated labours, as well as the sacrifices of a man seeking a habitation for God.

We must understand that the passion for God transcends our personal gain and whatever may be important to us. Is there a passion in your heart for God? True, there are so many things that are drawing our attention and catching our fancies such as education, marriage, career, business, and I do not despise any of these, but where is your passion? You alone can answer that.

When God spoke to Israel in the book of Exodus 29:45, He said to them, “I want to dwell in the midst of Israel.” In the next verse, He said, “I brought them out for a purpose: that I may dwell in the midst of them.”

If we say that Egypt represents sin, what is the purpose for which God saved you from sin? Is it not so that He may dwell in you? In Luke 9:58 Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. Jesus said that He had no place to lay His head; He needs one. What God spoke to Israel when He said that He waned to dwell in their midst, is the same thing He is speaking to the New Testament Church through Jesus. God is looking for a place where He would lay His head, which would be His habitation. The demands are not different, and except we rise up to the occasion and understand what God is saying, we would just run this race and begin to waffle around.  God’s passion for a dwelling has been from the time of old, David understood this and his intention was to provide a dwelling place for God.

Those who have found God’s grace empowered life, are not driven by their own personal gain or greed, they simply live to bring light, love, truth and resource to those who they influence.

2 Corinthian 6:16 says, ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Are you indeed the temple of the living God? Whenever the Lord asks a question more than once, it’s time to shut up and think. Are you the temple of the living God? Do you have the passion to be one? As I pondered over God’s word in Psalm 132, I wondered how these things can be, then God gave me an illustration seen in verses 5 and 13 of Psalm 132.

First of all, there must be a passion in the heart of a man who wants to be the dwelling place of God, such that he is willing to lay aside everything. The other part is God finding a habitation for Himself in the life of that man, such that God says, “ I have found a habitation for myself.” What brings these two together?

The illustration God gave me shows God and a man, with two strings attached to each of their hands. The man who is passionate about God has to keep making effort to closer to God, desiring God, until the time when the strings that tie him to God becomes tight.  Then God, who had not been moving but only watching the man move towards Him, will now be the One to pull the man close to Himself, until there is total alignment. That is when God can say that that is the person He has chosen to be His habitation. We need to understand this in order to live for God in these times.

For us to be God’s dwelling place, we must know the qualities of Zion, God’s dwelling place, so that we would ensure we have attained to them. The following are the characteristics of God’s dwelling place (Zion):

1.  Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined (Psalm 50:2). This is the first characteristic of God’s dwelling place. Is your heart/life shinning forth the light of God?  Is God shining through your life? We are the aroma of Christ.  Are you the aroma of Christ wherever you are – at home, in your place of work, at school? Or are people seeing something different in you? Light cannot shine through anything that is mucky; it shines through something that is transparent, devoid of any blockage. Can you say that your life is righteous, holy, transparent? Devoid of any blockage of sin. You must understand that the same grace of God that saves is the grace that empowers, and can transfer the fullness of Christ into us such that wherever we go, people can see Christ in us.
2. The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God (Jeremiah 51:10).  If you say you are the temple of God is your life declaring His works?
3. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem (Psalm 51:8). God is the builder of His habitation. Is He the builder of your life or He is just something to be consulted as necessary? Who rules your life? Who guides what determines your decisions?
4. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God (Psalm 84:2). Is your soul crying out for God? Do you have a passion for Him that you can lay everything aside in order to fulfill?
5. Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion” (Psalm 147:12). Are you joyful in God always? Those who are God’s dwelling place rejoice even in unpleasant situations because their trust is in God.
6. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation:he that believeth shall not make haste (Isaiah 28:16). How do you run your life? Can you wait on the Lord till He leads you in what direction to go or are you hasty about your life?
7. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! (Isaiah 40:9) Are you carrying good tidings concerning Jesus Or is your passion for Him just locked up in your life? Do you witness for Him? But more than witnessing, is your life speaking strongly as a testimony of Christ.  If you are not a witness for Christ, then something is wrong with your confession of being His servant and His child.

Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength (Psalm 132:8).

And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them. And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass,when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel (Numbers 10:33-36).

The rising up of the Lord is associated with the moving of the ark, and God is the initiator of the move. Associated with the habitation of the Lord is a sensitivity to the moving of the Lord. This means that for you to be the dwelling place of God, you have to be sensitive to His moving. The steps you take in your life as God’s temple, are they driven by God or by your thoughts? Every step you take as the habitation of God must be driven by God’s leading. We need to develop our hearts and learn to cry to God for that sensitivity, to know when the Lord is moving. There are 3 dimensions to this. One is for us as individuals to be sensitive of God’s move in our relationship with Him, the other is for us as a church to be discerning and alert the nation of God’s moving.

Are you sensitive enough to know when God is guiding you? What will be your basis for many decisions this year? It is in God’s presence that you will hear Him. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out (John 10:2-3). It is not difficult to hear God, but you need to pay attention for you to hear Him. If you are truly a sheep in God’s flock, you will hear the shepherd by focusing on Him.

Whenever Moses commanded the people to move, some people took on the responsibility of carrying the Ark, because the Ark has to move. And who are those who carry the ark? – the priests!  As pastors and teachers, are we willing to shoulder the responsibility of carrying the Ark? It is in carrying the Ark that the others will follow.

Whenever the Ark is moving forward, one of the places it is carried to is the battlefront, and it is the priests who bear the Ark that are at the frontline of the battle, and the first people to be in danger. No wonder Moses prayed: “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered.”  The guarantee of safety in carrying the Ark is there because God Himself is set forth to demolish the enemy.  If He has given you instructions, He has the responsibility to guard and defend you. All the things that have brought you frustrations over the past year, were they things that you did under His guidance or on your own?

We have to take responsibility not only to shoulder the Ark but to see God’s people move forward. In times like this, some must be sufficiently sensitive to give direction for people to move. That is the responsibility that God has given to this church, and that is why we can’t afford to just run a useless race like other people may want to run.

The third stage was for the glory resting. And when it rested,he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel. (Numbers 10:36).  God glory returns to an increasing base because conquest has gone on. Associated to being a habitation of God, is an arising and a resting of His glory. The arising of the glory speaks to you being sensitive in the spirit to see the move of God,  and your life also being a pointer of ways to others. And as men see the works of God in your life, they will know indeed you are a child of God, and you will see them becoming followers of God too.

I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. (Psalm 132:15). Let’s analyze the blessings. 

Blessing 1 – provision

I will abundantly bless her provision... (Psalm 132:15). What does provision mean? It means ‘prepared to meet specific needs.’ I then understood that for you to be able to see what God is saying here, you have to go back to what happened in Genesis 27. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow,and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat,such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die (Genesis 27:3-4).  Blessing 1 –Provision. When God speaks about provision, He speaks about something that you have conquered. Because the heart of Isaac longed for something that he wanted, he told his son, “take your bow and arrows, find in the fields and provide venison for me.” Now God is not asking you to take up bows and arrows, but there are challenges of faith that you will have to conquer; because when He says I will bless their provision, He is saying I will bless the things that they have conquered by prayers, and by supplicating in the presence of God. There will be responses to prayers that have been made in the presence of God, in faith, in total belief. But who is ready to battle in prayers concerning issues of their lives, concerning the ministry and concerning issues of the body of the Lord? Will you give yourself to the Lord in prayers?

Blessing 2 – bread.

…I will satisfy her poor with bread (Psalm 132:15). Bread can be made from many things, but the fundamental raw material is either wheat or barley. But whichever one it is, it is a seed. In other words, God is saying that He will satisfy us according to the seeds we sow.  It does not have to be seeds of money; it can be seeds of compassion, seeds of emotional stability that you give to others. But you have to sow a seed.

Understand what God is saying: a solid prayer life will be met with definitive answers from the Lord. A sacrificial giving life (not necessarily money) will bring blessings and satisfaction to you. Will you give whatever God lays in your heart into the lives of your brethren wherever you see them have need? Except a man begins to sow in these times, you can’t get the satisfaction that God is speaking about.

I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy (Psalm 132:16).

Blessing 3 – ‘I will clothe her priests with salvation. Why priests? Because they are the ones that shoulder the Ark and face the heat of the battle first. And when the Ark is moving, the word says, “Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered. Let them that hate thee flee before thee.” So, we have that quiet assurance that as we are following God’s leading and make the declarations that He has spoken, our lives are secure in His hands. That is why these things are written in His word, so to those of you that God has given a calling, when God says it is time to move, let there be no shaking of hearts. Are you experiencing the rising and the resting of God’s glory? If you are, these blessings are natural flows that God Himself has unleashed for all those who are His habitation.

Blessing 4 – And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. (Isiah 61:3). Joy will not depart from your heart and home if you are the habitation of God and these blessings are given as promises to those who have become the habitation of God, those who are experiencing the rising and the resting of God’s glory. They don’t have to labour for the blessings, they only  have to labour to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto.  There will be no shaking when we set ourselves in order in God’s presence.

There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed (Psalm 132:17).

Blessing 5 – Therefore will  I make the horn of David to bud. 

The horn represents power, strength, dominion. We see how God demonstrated this in the life of David. David had dominion, and no enemy could stand against David, even till the days of his son, Solomon. Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem (1 Kings 15:4). When God speaks about your horn being established and a lamp being given to you, He is saying that your influence will not be cut short. God gave David extended influence such that even when Solomon his son sinned, God was bound by His word – the throne was never taken away from Judah; and even now the throne is being restored again to Judah, because of the word that He has spoken. For those that give themselves to the Lord in these times, God is promising extended influences to them, and to the seeds that come from their bodies.

Blessing 6 – His enemies will I clothe with shame

God is saying that He will validate the things He has spoken by you so that those who have thought you to be a liar will see God’s word coming to pass. The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:8-11).  Clothing your enemies with shame speaks of how God will validate your integrity by vindicating your utterances, by validating you by the truth in which your are walking.

Blessing 7 – Upon himself shall his crown flourish. 

The crown is a symbol of an anointing.

Photo by Igor Rodrigues on Unsplash