Psalm 76

1 God is honored in Judah; his name is great in Israel.
2 Jerusalem is where he lives; Mount Zion is his home.
3 There he has broken the fiery arrows of the enemy, the shields and swords and weapons of war.
Interlude

4 You are glorious and more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
5 Our boldest enemies have been plundered. They lie before us in the sleep of death. No warrior could lift a hand against us.
6 At the blast of your breath, O God of Jacob, their horses and chariots lay still.
7 No wonder you are greatly feared! Who can stand before you when your anger explodes?
8 From heaven you sentenced your enemies; the earth trembled and stood silent before you.
9 You stand up to judge those who do evil, O God, and to rescue the oppressed of the earth.
Interlude

10 Human defiance only enhances your glory, for you use it as a weapon.
11 Make vows to the Lord your God, and keep them. Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.
12 For he breaks the pride of princes, and the kings of the earth fear him.

"Jerusalem is where He lives..."

Of course, we all know that God can never be limited to dwelling in one place. After all, one of the fundamental tenets in our theology of God is that He is "omnipresent"...everywhere, all the time.
Yet, God told Israel...and Israel believed...that He had chosen her and would make Israel His home. Because of this virtually all historical incidents in the nation's history are understood in this context of God's presence (or lack thereof). We are told today's psalm was written on account of the defeat of Sennacherib, and his army, which came up against Jerusalem in the times of Hezekiah, and was destroyed by an angel in one night (2 Chron 32).

Israel understood victory came from God's active presence while defeat was the result of God's absence because of the nation's disobedience.

I have no dispute with the notion that an omnipresent God could identify a specific geographical location as His base of operations...particularly if God had previously identified that place (and those people) as special to Him. What makes me most curious as that today we...as believers...don't seem to carry that notion forward into our own daily lives.

We should. M. Scott Peck defines a "Christian" as "a comfortable place for God to dwell." He is right.

Romans 8 tells us that God has made His home within believers...just as He dwelt within the walls of Jerusalem. We don't claim God doesn't exist elsewhere but we claim He is most "at home" in our spirits. "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."
And, in keeping with Peck's definition, we might suggest that when our lives become stained by disobedience and cluttered with worldliness, God needs to take a walk to "clear His head." I am not suggesting that a believer's eternal salvation is in jeopardy. We are told that "nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." I am suggesting that God's manifest power and presence (which actually influences circumstances) is diluted by those things and becomes much more difficult to identify.

As we try to make sense of the events in our own lives...the victories and defeats...we should understand those events in the context of God's presence. When we are most faithful, His presence should seem most powerful. When our hearts wander, bad things begin to happen because God's presence dissipates. So, Asaph closes this psalm with the reminder to "make vows to the Lord our God, and keep them. Let everyone bring tribute to the Awesome One.
For he breaks the pride of princes, and the kings of the earth fear him."

Have our lives been a struggle? A string of defeats? Perhaps a good house cleaning would help. We should spruce ourselves up so we are a more comfortable place for God to dwell. And, to paraphrase today's psalm...we should proclaim "I am where He lives."

Live boldly out there today...