Love ExpressedSample

The Blessed House

By Sion Alford

I hear a knock at the door. “Were we expecting company?” I ask my wife as she continues to serve the family our evening meal.

“Maybe it’s travelers on their way to Jerusalem needing a place to rest for the night,” says one of the kids as he stuffs his mouth full of bread.

I guess it could be a neighbor or perhaps one of the kids from that farm down the road dropping in for an unannounced visit, I think.

As I open the old door, creaky and rusty from generations of welcomes and goodbyes, my eyes quickly meet the eyes of one standing tall, erect and stately in front of me. I rub my eyes in disbelief. A second look only confirms what I thought I’d seen. Suddenly, it’s like someone has thrown a bucket of warm oil over my head. I feel fear and reverence flow down my beard and into my tunic until it reaches my quivering knees, which instinctively give way as I plant my face on the ground in front of the unannounced visitor’s dusty sandals. These aren’t the sandals of a common man. These are the sandals of a king! THE King of Israel … King David! The King is at my house!

“Obed, do you mind if we leave something with you for a season?” asks the King. “I’m a little distraught and don’t know exactly what to do with the contents of this golden chest, and I need some time to pray and seek the Lord about how to properly bring it home to Jerusalem. Do you have a place for it? Can you watch over it until I return?”

Can you imagine what it must have been like to be Obed-Edom the day the King of Israel dropped by his house? The great King of Israel—the mighty shepherd warrior himself—King David, asking a common man and his family to host the most treasured item in the universe … the Ark of God. Far more than just a symbol, it was the Most High’s dwelling place on the earth. It wasn’t just a symbol of His presence; it was His presence! A presence so powerful that hours before its arrival at the porch of Obed-Edom, a well-meaning man named Uzzah was instantly struck dead for simply touching it in hopes of keeping it from falling off a cart that was carrying it.

And the king wants it in my living room? Obed must have thought. What if the kids are playing around and accidently run into it? What if someone mistakenly bumps it? What if the cat jumps up on it? … Well, maybe the cat WILL jump on it. Maybe you don’t think about things like this, but I do. I actually love this story, because it reveals the heart of God and His passion to be with His people.

The Word of God doesn’t go into a lot of detail outlining what happened in those three months the Ark of God rested in Obed’s house, but we do know “the Lord blessed him and his entire household” (2 Samuel 6:11). It’s that simple—when the presence of the Lord is in a house, the blessing of God abounds.

Need more joy in your house? Invite God’s presence (Psalm 16:11). Has the Enemy brought division and strife between you and your kids? Gather everyone together and pray, worship and read His Word together (Psalm 33). Need healing or a financial breakthrough? Make a place for the presence of God in your home by pushing aside the television and computer and worship the King of the Universe together as a family.

Obed and his entire family didn’t simply receive a visitation that day. They received an invitation. They received an invitation to join God and prepare a place for His habitation. Those three months changed the lives of everyone in Obed’s house. While it probably wrecked their daily routines, it also forever transformed their lives.

Listen today. Listen closely. There’s a knocking at your door. The King is here, and He wants to bless your house!

One thing I ask, and I would seek, to see Your beauty
To find You in the place Your glory dwells …
My heart and flesh cry out for You, the living God
Your Spirit’s water to my soul
I’ve tasted and I’ve seen, come once again to me
I will draw near to You …
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
~ Matt Redman

Prayer

Father, I hear You today, knocking at the door of my heart and knocking at the door of my home. Please come in and take Your place. Live and abide in my home. Invade every crevice of my household, and reveal Yourself to everyone under the roof of my house. Change us, bless us, heal us, and set us all free to live for You. May they say of our home: “The Lord has blessed them and their entire household!” In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activation

• Answer God’s knock at the door by allowing His presence into every area of your life. Worship isn’t just for Sunday morning; it’s for every day of the week.
• Listen to worship music every morning before work or school and invite His presence into your life and your day.
• I specifically challenge the head of every household to take a lead in being the “Obed-Edom” of your household. Make a place for the presence of God by leading prayer and worship in your home.

Memory Verse

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17 (ESV)