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Aug 20, 2023 06:00am

Where Will You Dwell?

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Planning summer vacations can be so much fun! There are endless possibilities stretched before you: where you will go, what you will do, what food you will eat, and don’t forget—where you will stay!
Many people consider going camping, because with a simple tent setup (which oftentimes isn’t that simple), you can stay just about anywhere very inexpensively! My friends recently convinced me of this camping novelty as we planned a trip for my 40th birthday.

In the Psalms, we see two very different pictures of people setting up tents:

Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is like the beasts that perish.

(Psalms 49:11–12)
…
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

(Psalms 90:1–2)

The Hebrew word for “dwelling place” in Psalm 49 means tabernacle, or, quite literally, tent. It was most frequently used to talk about the tabernacle, or tent, where God dwelled among His people in the Old Testament.

So in essence, we have two camps set before us in these Psalms: the camp of death and the camp of life.

The first camp is a place of self-sufficiency. The people who live here try to make a name for themselves—and it even seems they are successful! They name lands after themselves. Psalm 49 says they “count themselves blessed,” “boast in the abundance of their riches,” and “the glory of [their] house increases.”
That way of living certainly sounds appealing and carefree!

The problem with it, however, is where they are placing their trust. The Psalm goes on to say they “trust in their wealth” and “have foolish confidence.” These people are trusting in what they have accomplished to save them and boasting in themselves. But none of the glory they have built will go with them when they die; they will be able to take none of their wealth with them.

Even if for some reason they could take their money with them, the psalmist says that no man can “give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should go on forever and never see the pit” (Psalm 49:7–9). The end of choosing to dwell in this camp only leads to unending death. No human achievements can ever earn our way out of this predicament.

The second camp, however, is a camp of life. The people in the second camp choose to dwell with God, the One who made the lands that the people are naming after themselves, the One who existed before He ever created them, and who will exist forever! These people realize the price for their life is costly; they know God’s wrath is justly on them for their sins (Psalm 90:7–11).

Yet by God’s grace, they also realize God is the only One who can “ransom [their] soul from the power of Sheol” (Psalm 49:15)! Instead of foolishly boasting in themselves and the works of their hands, they ask God to bestow favor on them—that He would establish the works of their hands (Psalm 90:17). Instead of being satisfied in all they have achieved, they ask to be satisfied with God’s steadfast love (Psalm 90:14).
The Israelites in Moses’ day had this same choice put before them. Before Moses was to die (the same man who wrote Psalm 90), God gave him the task of communicating the blessings they would receive if they obeyed God’s commandments, and the curses they would incur for disobeying God’s commandments. They had to choose—following God meant life; following their own way meant death.
Moses said:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).

We have the same choice today. In which camp will you choose to dwell?