What is the House YOU would Build for ME?

“What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?” God Creator of the Universe, Isaiah 66:1

He also prefaces His question with this statement, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool, and then in all seriousness the Lord asks – “What is the house YOU would build for ME?”

"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture." God Jesus Christ, John 10:9

Did you notice the singularity of this invitation? The Lord isn’t inviting US to build Him a house, He asking what YOU, as an individual, will build for Him.

"Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Paul, Philippians 2:12-13

The Lord then goes on to remind us that He has made all things. So God makes it very clear what He is seeking, “this is the ONE to whom I will look: He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Creator of the Universe, Isaiah 66:2

"Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word . . . Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream." Author Unknown, Isaiah 55:5, 12

To be clear, God does not wish for me or you to be like the Israelites, because those people were “afraid and trembled, and they stood far off. . . while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.” Moses, Exodus 20:21

"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth." David, Psalm 145:18

Instead, God is directing us to be like David, who did not give regard to worthless idols, like shame, even in the midst of His affliction and in the time of his distress. David, Psalm 31: 6 – 7, 9

See, rather than hiding himself FROM God in shame, David asked GOD to HIDE HIM – to be a rock of refuge for David, a strong fortress to save him! David, Psalm 31:2

But David didn’t just ask for covering, or as we like to call it nowadays, Mercy and Grace,

In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. David, Psalm 31:20

David also said to God, “into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Psalm 31:5

At Seek First we simply want to remind you today that it is in our individual hearts where God would like to build His house, but for God to take up residence in my heart, I must be willing to empty myself out, just as Christ did, humbling myself “by becoming obedient to the point of death.” Paul and Timothy servants of Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:8

Because God delights “in truth in the inward being,” but it is also there, in the secret heart that God teaches me wisdom. David, Psalm 51:6

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God . . . but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Paul, Philippians 2:5-6