Digging Deeper: Dwelling at God’s Altar
“The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.”
1 Peter 5:10 (CSB)
DWELLING AT GOD’S ALTAR
So what do we do with this suffering Peter is warning us of? He tells us in verse 9, “Resist him, firm in the faith…” But how do we resist this lion looking to devour our souls?
Psalm 84 says, “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord of Armies. I long and yearn for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God. Even a sparrow finds a home and a swallow, a nest for herself where she places her young — near your altars, Lord of Armies, my King and my God.”
What an interesting choice to talk about the sparrow and the swallow. These are interesting birds because they’re nothing birds. In Jesus’ day, they had very little value. And they were messy.
Have you ever been out on a boat, maybe on Allatoona? If you go under an overpass, the bridges that cross the lake, and look up, you’ll see these mud nests. Those are sparrow nests.
These birds would build their nests in little nooks and crannies around the temple, and they were a mess. They were loose, misshapen nests made of whatever they could find, or they were made out of mud. But there they were–near His altar.
He could have written about any beautiful, prized, put-together bird here. Birds with nests that are planned, polished, clean, and fully put together. Birds that hold worldly value, whose soar demands the respect of others. But he chose the sparrow and the swallow. Why do you think that is?
Because that’s you, and that’s me. And that’s the call He has placed on our lives! Bring your mess, your filth, your unpolished world, and live your life near His altar–and dwell there.
I did a word study of altar. Are you ready? [Altar]: a place of sacrifice AND thanksgiving, a place where God brings change.
We resist the devil and stand firm in the faith when we build our lives at His altar. When we allow Him to empower us in the hard seasons, whatever it is, and determine to set our hearts on following Jesus, wherever He leads us. When we suffer and weep–because we will–He takes our tears and makes them refreshing–and a place of blessing. We’ll look back and see we moved from strength to strength, empowering to empowering, one situation at a time. Why? Because we’ve camped our lives–every aspect of it–on Jesus, at His altar–His place of transformation.
Only Jesus can do that. There’s no other route, no other way, no other choice that can give you this kind of “return” on obedience, surrender, and sheer determination to follow Him.
Sarah Jefferson is married to Curtis and the mother to Grey, Sanders, and Collins. She is a rare Atlanta native, currently living in Acworth. Sarah began her career in public relations in the sports industry. Now, she is a high school English teacher Mt. Paran Christian School. When she’s not teaching, you can find her running or hiking the beautiful trails of north Georgia and spending time with her busy family.