So one one of my favorite books in the bible to read is Proverbs (especially in the New Living Translation), it’s so full of wisdom and insight, I just love that book! At one point, a few years ago I was reading through the book of Proverbs every month. There’s this saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” well I created one for the book of Proverbs and it’s this “ a Proverb a day keep the stupid away!” LOL well it is the book of wisdom!
I recently started reading through the book of Proverbs again and the LORD gave me a revelation about the word Dwell.
Proverbs 17:9 (NLT) says:
“Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”
Now looking at that scripture alone it is powerful, but for me I love to dig a little deeper and see the meaning behind words, so I pulled out my phone, opened up my handy dandy dictionary app and looked up the meaning of the word Dwell and man was I surprised at what I saw. Now obviously we all know what the definition of the word dwell means to linger on something for a period of time. But when I saw how it was stated in the dictionary it sparked something in me.
Dwell:
- to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside.
- to live or continue in a given condition or state:
- to linger over, emphasize, or ponder in thought, speech, or writing (often followed by on or upon):
When I saw the definition it sparked me to apply that to the scripture and ask myself,Have I been dwelling on the faults, mistakes and errors of other people? Have I made a home in an offense that someone has caused me? Have I continued to live in the pain of someone else’s mistake?
To dwell means to park, to stop, to stay, to settle, to exist, to rest, to abide. As I pondered this I began not only to apply it to a faults but to other things in my life. Have I chosen to dwell in pain? Have I chosen to dwell in offense,bitterness, rejection, unforgiveness, pride? Have I actually made a residence in these places? And the answer was yes, if not currently, at some point in my life I had become comfortable with these things. I had settled in these negative spaces in my mind and I had built a home in these places. I was paying rent to stay in a place of hurt, pain, and misery! As soon as I realized this I immediately began to repent and ask God to take it away. I realized that making a space in my life for these things took up room for God to dwell there! And I just can’t have that! The only one I want to make a home for in my life is God, His presence and the purpose that He has for me.
Now I know it can be very difficult not to dwell on these things because the truth is some of the stuff that we are dwelling on has really hurt us. The things that people have said and done has caused us some emotional scarring. But the thing about that is we cannot stay there. There is a difference in making a home in pain and processing through that pain. Now when we dwell in a place we think about that negative thing over and over again,but when we process through that pain we are taking the necessary steps to move past the things that we are going through. Process means: a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. Now the end that we should always aim towards should be to move past the pain. So I encourage you to go through the process and heal.
Now one last thing I want to mention regarding this scripture is the first part “ LET LOVE PROSPER!” We must get to that place in our life that we would rather let our love be greater than the offense that someone has caused us. That we let the love that we have inside of us out weigh everything else.The Bible says in
1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
At the end of the day we just need a lot more love in our life. We need to receive more love and we need to give more love. If the world had a greater level of love we would be so much further along. So Let love prosper and don’t dwell on the negative, process through those things and dwell on the good!