Finding "Home"

Psalms 91:7- "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."

I read that verse...and re-read it...and re-read it again. Thousands shall fall, "but it shall NOT come nigh thee." I want to claim that verse as my own, but there are still times in my life where I think about how much I mess up, how I've strayed from God and how quickly I could be back to living a life of sin and rebellion against Him. It doesn't take much. Not only does my natural flesh constantly remind me of that, but I've also seen people, who I once admired for their faith and consistency in following after God, turn 180 degrees and head in the opposite direction. It leaves you feeling utterly disappointed and let down. Yet, whats to keep me from doing the exact same thing? How can I be one of the few who will still stand, when the thousands around me have fallen? How could the Psalmist so confidently say that "falling away" wasn't an option?

..."Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation." (Vrs. 9)

The answer, as always, comes in the Lord. Make Him your habitation. (Home, dwelling, a place to live.) The more that I thought on that verse the more the implications of it began to dawn on me. My home is a place that, almost without fail, I go to every single day... I go home after a long day of work. I go home after shopping. I go home after a vacation. Its at home that I can find rest and that I can truly be myself. Now, if I'm to make the Lord my "home" then, almost without fail, I need to go to Him every single day. I need to find Him in/after all the things I do each day. I need to rest in Him and be truly honest before Him.

However, the best part is that God has not left us alone in this endeavor to keep Him first; to make Him our habitation. He knows the battles are often hard and that we are much too weak. He knows that we will fall and that we need more than a human's strength to lift us up. If we have desired to make God our dwelling places and have put our effort into doing just that, he promises that "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Vrs 11-12) What a comfort the Word of God brings! You thought your battles were unbearable? Just think of what you have been spared of!

So don't be discouraged when you see yourself falling in areas you thought you'd already gotten the victory in. Instead, see it as God's way of reminding you that you are NOT God and that "because he (you) hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him."

Be encouraged.... It not because of our perfection that we are delivered, but rather its because we've recognized our need of God and in return, love Him all the more for His help.

Anyways, I've been thinking on these things for the past week or so and just today I read the following quote in a book on the life of Amy Carmichael. Somehow it just seems to sum everything up.

"To be like Christ. To displace self from the inner throne, and to enthrone Him; to make not the slightest compromise with the smallest sin. We aim at nothing less than to walk with God all day long, to abide every hour in Christ and He and His words in us, to love God with all the heart and our neighbor as ourselves...It is possible to cast every care on Him daily, and to be at peace amidst pressure, to see the will of God in everything, to put away all bitterness and clamor and evil speaking, daily and hourly. It is possible by unreserved resort to divine power under divine conditions to become strongest through and through at our weakest point."