Gracie Girl Blog

I came to a revelation about how we are made to dwell recently.

You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, I always thought that ‘dwelling on God’ sounded nice but impractical, metaphorical, and abstract. A church phrase to throw around without real application. Recently, however, I’ve found dwelling to be a much more tangible practice.

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I’ve been taking social media breaks in January since high school. If you’ve known me since then, you may be sick of hearing about it. The reasons I try to (slightly) advertise these breaks are: #1 in my social circles I’m expected to be online to some extent, so I want someone to tell me if I miss something big (although I’ve found rarely does something “big” happen), and #2 sometimes it inspires other people to take a break, too.

Personally, I’m tired of the echo chamber of statistics on the effects of socials – I know the risks and benefits because I’ve lived them (don’t get me wrong, I do think this research is important). The question has become how do I want to move forward with interacting on these apps? I love creativity, sharing/conversation, and humor – all which I find on social media. However, in the last year, I’ve found myself enjoying a more private life, not feeling the need to share everything significant online. Additionally, subtle overstimulation and comparison come with the internet always – I’ve found there’s no way to filter those out without deleting the apps.

This January, instead my usual strict “no socials no matter what” approach – I stayed off intentionally, occasionally checking them/posting if I had a good reason. Parallel to this, I started reading more and waking up a little earlier. Without too many TV shows to watch, my life got quiet quick…and I began to love that.

It’s true that when you take noise/distraction away, you have to sit with yourself more. Your feelings, thoughts, habits, all of it. That gets uncomfortable but that also causes clarity and the ability to know how you feel and why on a daily basis.

I’d been thinking about friends who have told me they’d be bored without social media. That the time and attention these apps demand is worth it – beneficial and entertaining. Certainly in some cases, a way to fight loneliness or sitting in uncomfortable feelings.

No matter how loud or quiet our environment is, our minds will always move to something. Here’s where I had my revelation. There is an emptiness when entertainment is taken away, an emptiness meant to be filled by the Lord. In prayer, in reading, in music, in just sitting in silence – our minds move to dwell on the Lord. On His kindness and peace, on His character, on His control over the outside world. Our minds were made to be occupied by Him.

To dwell means “to live in or at a specified place” (Oxford), “to exist or remain for a time” (Webster)

To dwell on means “to keep attention directed upon” (Webster), “to think, speak, or write at length on a subject” (Oxford)

We are overstimulated in every aspect today. Corrie ten Boom said, “If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy.” Why? Because busy keeps us from dwelling on God.

The danger of dwelling on God is that you might start to remember what He’s done in your life. You might start to wonder if there is peace amongst an anxiety filled world and circumstances that warrant fear. You might decided to leave your day in the Lord’s hands. Your mind may fill of good things, scripture may come alive to you, prayer may be realized as a two-way street.

A Bible teacher I know loves to ask a group this every so often: “How does the U.S. government identify counterfeit money, when hundreds of different counterfeits of the US dollar show up every day?” The answer: they study the real. When you sit with a very real God, much fades away, and He becomes easier and easier to recognize. His voice becomes familiar.

It is only recently I have learned this. It is only in reading and slowing down and making space have I begun to realize we can and should dwell on God. Sometimes that is just sitting in silence. Sometimes that means your brain being so busy that you get through reading one verse in 30 minutes. There’s no checklist for dwelling. There is simply showing up and trusting God does indeed want to dwell with us too.

A note on the abyss, though, for those who are perhaps scared that darkness is on the other side of quiet. Indeed the devil lurks, lying in wait to lie to you. Yet Jesus waits to be invited in, and he’s closer. If you want Him there, He will be. However, “He is not going to hang around where he is not wanted” (Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack, p.193). God is not controlling, he does not force himself upon us, he instead patiently waits for us to invite him in.

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Psalm 84:10

The author of the Psalm above realizes that the house of God is the best place to be, even as a servant. The “lowest” of the Lord’s house are treated better and have more peace than the royalty of the wicked.

Our daily struggle today is not likely against idol worshipping, human-sacrificing armies who are camped nearby. It is more so against distractions, anxiety, and fear. The “busy” that makes us money, keeps us in our social circles, makes our parents proud, etc. This busy asks more and more of us so we never get a chance to stop and wonder if maybe there is peace in the chaos. If maybe the practices people talk about – reading the Bible, going to church, prayer – are not for religious status but activities created to help us dwell.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:6

This newfound perspective on dwelling has caused me to grant myself more grace when I get sucked into scrolling. Apps created to grab and hold our attention are tapping into the innate desire in us to connect and spend time in one place/thought/subject.

We are indeed always looking for something to dwell on – no being, subject, place, or thought grants peace like the Lord. May we find ourselves dwelling on Him.