WILL GOD INDEED DWELL ON THE EARTH?

 

JUNE 28.

Will God indeed dwell on the earth?
I Kings 8:27

 

WHEN we think of his greatness, and our insignificance;
  of his holiness, and our impurity;
  of his righteousness, and our perverseness;
  we may well ask this question.
 
Behold, the heaven, and
  the heaven of heavens cannot contain him,
  and yet he says,
   “I will dwell in the high and holy place,
    with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
    to revive the spirit of the humble, and
    revive the heart of the contrite ones.”
 
O Lord, produce in us that humility 

  which attracts thee to its professor,
  and give us true contrition of soul!
 
But, God dwell on the earth as one of the creatures.
He took our nature, and dwelt in that nature as in a tabernacle.
 
He dwelt on earth for more than thirty years, and
  did so that we might dwell with him in heaven for ever.
 
Our God became a servant,
  that we might become his sons.
 
Our God obeyed the law,
  that we might be justified at his bar.
 
Our God purchased us with his own blood, and
  now dwells in us by his own Spirit.
 
O wonder of wonders!
 
 

He did: the King invisible,

Jehovah once on earth did dwell,

And laid his majesty aside:

Whom all his heavens cannot contain,

For us he liv’d, a mournful man,

For us a painful death he died!

 
James Smith 1849