This Psalm is a beautiful reminder that following Jesus doesn’t just save our souls for eternity, it transforms our lives here and now. When we enter into a relationship with God, He begins to fill the deep voids in our hearts we’ve been trying so hard to fill on our own. In response, we are invited to pour out songs, prayers, and lives of praise. If I’m honest, even as a Christian, there are still plenty of days when I don’t feel like singing songs of worship or praying beautiful, well-thought-out prayers. Honestly, I believe it’s in those moments when we’re raw and real that our relationship with God can thrive the most. God doesn’t want a polished, perfect version of us. He wants the real us. When I don’t feel like worshiping, God still pursues me. And it’s often in my lowest moments that I find myself leaning into Him the most and somehow, He leads me into these unexplainably sweet moments where praising Him is all I want to do.
When I was in middle school, I experienced the truth of verse 5 in a personal way. My father was no longer a part of my life, and it left a “father-sized” void that I longed to fill. It is by the grace of God that I quickly came to understand: God would fill that need perfectly. He knew me completely, loved me fully, and laid down His life for me. Letting God be my Father didn’t just heal that wound, it taught me to stop chasing that fulfillment from other people or things. It also helped me see other areas of my heart where I had been trying to fill the emptiness with anything but Him.
The phrase “holy habitation” might sound like a big, distant religious term, but when I looked into it, I found that it’s actually really sweet: God’s holy habitation is simply the place where His presence dwells. For much of my Christian life, I saw God like a neighbor — close enough to check in when I wanted, but distant enough that I could live my own life inside my “house.” The danger in that mindset is that it paints God as distant and only involved when I allow Him to be. But Psalm 68 reminds us that God moves into our lives. He dwells within us, not just in some parts, but in every room of our hearts. As He fills every space, His love begins to change us from the inside out, leading us gently toward repentance and real transformation. So here’s the question I’m asking myself: What “rooms” in my life am I still trying to keep locked away from God? What would my life look like if I truly believed that God’s presence fills every part of me and that I have unlimited access to a personal, loving Father, even on the days when I don’t feel it? I believe that when we truly understand that God dwells within us, that’s when we finally realize: We’re home.