One Thing I Have Desired

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
  Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
  Of whom shall I be afraid?

(Psalm 27:1)

David begins with this declaration. It turns out that, in the natural, the enemy is lining up against him. But he is not focusing his attention on that. Instead, he is singing a praise to Yahweh. Darkness is gathering around him, but he is declaring Yahweh to be his light. He is confessing Yahweh as his deliverer, his rescuer, his salvation. In himself, he has no strength. It matters very little, for he proclaims Yahweh to be the strength of his life. No fear here. No need for it.

When the wicked came against me
  To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and my foes,
  They stumbled and fell (v. 2)

David brings to mind past deliverances, how Yahweh came to his rescue and his enemies fell.

Though an army may encamp against me,
  My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
  In this I will be confident. (v. 3)

God delivered him in the past, God will deliver him now. God has not changed. God has not disappeared. Therefore, David has a deep, abiding confidence in God. He is secure because he takes his refuge in Him.

One thing I have desired of the LORD,
  That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
  All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
  And to inquire in His temple. (v. 4)

Never mind how the enemy was waiting to swallow him up. David was focused on something more important, something which was the key to his victory. Forget the armies, forget the trash talk of the enemy. There is something far more significant which David desired with fierce passion and sought intently. It is his sole request of the LORD:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD.

This was David’s focus—to dwell, to take up residence, to make his abode, to become established in the house of God, in the very presence of Yahweh. He did not want to be a tourist, he wanted to know it as home for the rest of his life.

To behold the beauty of the LORD.

There was something he longed to gaze at intently, to perceive deeply, to contemplate thoroughly. He intensely desired to behold, have visions of, and prophesy the beauty of Yahweh—how pleasant, agreeable, delightful, marvelous, gracious and majestic is the LORD. We become life whatever we behold, and nothing remains the same when we learn to behold the LORD.

And to inquire in His temple.

The Hebrew word for “inquire” is baqar and literally means to plow, or break forth. It is to thoroughly seek out and consider. David wanted such a deep revelation of Yahweh and an intimate experience of His presence, so that he might consider everything in his life in the light of it. To “plow his fields” in the intimate knowledge of God. To hold nothing back, but to break forth with all the issues of his life in the presence of the LORD.

What is your desire? Where do you dwell? What are you beholding? What controls your perspective?