One Thing

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I ask from the Lord, and that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.”

This Psalm was written by David, a man after God’s own heart as he is described in scripture (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). He was not perfect but the Lord was pleased with how often David sought Him before he did anything. How David always submitted to Him and kept the Lord pre-eminent in his life. And even when he did falter, he humbly repented and sought the Lord for forgiveness and corrected his ways.

This prayer of David is reflective of his deepest desire and hope. When he says ‘one thing’, we get an understanding that being in the presence of the Lord every day is what truly mattered to David. It holds value above anything else.

Dwell- means to live there. Not to run to the Lord only when the need arises and go about the rest of the time with minimal acknowledgement to the Lord.

To dwell is to live out our everyday lives through the reality of being and functioning from and within His presence.

David understood that he could not remain in the Lord’s presence all his days unless God himself would enable him to do so.

In Mathew 26:41 Jesus says “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” We wish to always dwell in the presence of the Lord but in our own strength, we cannot accomplish that. It does not mean that we just sit back and wait for the Lord to sort it out for us. We are to seek to dwell in His presence just like David wrote.

Intentionality when it comes to being consistent with our study of the word and time with God is crucial in dwelling in His presence.

What did David want to do in the Lord’s presence – to gaze upon His beauty and seek Him.

When you gaze on something, you are also experiencing it. Gazing on the beauty of the Lord is tied in with experiencing His nearness and worshipping Him. We experience His peace, His comfort, His strength and we view the now through His lens and live with an eternal perspective.

Seek Him – David’s desire was to know more of God and more of His ways. To grow in the knowledge of Him.

God was what David desired the most in His life. God was his source, his strength and his joy.

This Christmas time as we dwell on what we desire to gift, to receive or how we hope to spend it, may the one thing we truly desire be – to dwell in God’s presence every single day. May everything else that we do pour out from us dwelling in His presence.

May we keep the Lord our priority during this time especially and not allow Satan to rob us of spending time with the source of our everything that enables us to be Christ like.

We might be doing Christmas differently that we are used to but God is forever the same.

His desire for us to seek Him, spend time with Him, inquire of Him and worship Him every day remains unchanged.  

The hope that we have in Him, our joy in Him, His grace, His love and His presence is unchanged and is right there for us even in these different and difficult days. We might not be able to be with family like we are used to but God is always with us.

This Christmas might feel less than ideal in some ways but God’s presence is not dictated by the presence of huge celebrations, opulence, gifts and such. His presence desires hearts that seek and worship Him. May dwelling in His presence be the one thing we truly desire and seek.

God Bless.