by Brett Jacobsen

 

A Psalm of David. 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? 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; 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. 5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. 6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. (Ps 27:1-6)

 
In the midst of this wonderful passage is a heart attitude which every Christ follower should ponder and practice. Although it is midway through the Old Testament it is dripping with New Testament simplicity and freedom.

Christian confidence

The first three verses portray a king with outright confidence despite the many “calamities” that were around his life (Ps 57:1). Surely the primary reason for David’s confidence against all adversity was in this very heart attitude. But this was not just a heart attitude; it was a living reality for Him: God was “a very present help” (Ps 46:1).

As it is David’s approach to God and life, seen in verse four, that unlocks the key to his composure; this is the verse we will examine. As we do so we shall consider both the Old Testament application and then that for us in the New Testament.

At the end of verse three where David says “in this will I be confident”, he was clearly referring to the principles in verse four. In an age when Christian confidence has often been directed almost everywhere except in “the simplicity that is in Christ”, it would do us well to amend our hearts and ways to be more like David’s (2 Cor 11:3).

“One thing have I desired of the LORD”

David was single minded about the things of God and life. Yes he would have had other desires - there were surely other things that he wanted. However, he was still able to declare that he desired but one thing of the Lord. That thing which he desired, as we will see below, equates to us desiring a life in the ever available presence of the Spirit of God and being ruled by the King of kings.

David was not showing a lack of desire in life but rather a submission of all his desires to the one desire of Him who is and gives life. He was showing his intention to allow all his hearts requests to spring from that well that comes only from our glorious Father.

Desires that aren’t submitted to true desire for Him and His will are empty aspirations and meagre morsels which produce no real life. Christians ought not to be taught, or to conclude themselves, that they should pursue their own selfish desires. Our desire must be wholeheartedly for the Lord and what He purposes for us and His creation.

“that will I seek after”

Jesus reemphasised this when He said “seek you first [proton- before, at the beginning] the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matt 6:33). We are to prioritise our seeking by always beginning with ‘Kingdom seeking’ and then all other desires and things to be sought after must flow from that.

Jesus also promised us “seek, and you shall find” (Matt 7:7). He didn’t stop there though; He said that when we seek and find we should also “KNOCK, and it shall be opened to [us]”. I think David’s seeking was a little on the knocking side of things. You can feel the urgency He had for the presence of God. If we are to live in a fuller measure of Christ and His Kingdom then we must surely develop a similar urgency to seek that which abides forever.

“that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life”

Now, here is the crux of what we are to desire and seek- here is the ultimate goal and longing of the Christian heart- those who have been broken and recreated in Him.

But first we must make the clear distinction between how this applied to David’s time in comparison to ours. (Though I do believe David was ahead of his time and had a degree of New Testament understanding of God).

For the Old Testament church (national Israel) the “house of the Lord” was in reference to the tabernacle and temple where the ark was kept and subsequently where God’s manifest presence abode. David at least partially had this in mind as we can see in 2 Sam 7 that David wanted to build an elaborate temple for God. But surely David wasn’t interested in spending every day in a physical temple. He was speaking of his longing to dwell in the presence of Almighty God “all the days of [his] life”.

When he said “all the days of my life” it wasn’t just some cliché that meant ‘till the end’. He was showing his desire to live out every day of his life in communion with the Lord- “under the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps 91:1).

Now we will look at this principle in the light of the New Testament church. It is biblically plain that there are no physical houses of God in the New Testament times (Acts 7:48-49, Heb 8:1-2, 9:1-11), for we are “God’s building” (1 Cor 3:9). The New Testament “house of the Lord” is the celestial community of believers who are “…builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph 2:19-22).

So, what are we to desire of the Lord in our day and age?

We too are to desire one thing- “to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of [our] life”. But we have received further clarity and surer access into the house of the Lord. For the house of the Lord now is ‘the abiding presence of Father by His Spirit, through Christ’. This house is upon us whenever and wherever we are in communion with the Lord as He “dwells [skenoo- to tabernacle over]” with us and we with Him (Rev 21:3).

Not only that, the house of the Lord is also the communion of “the spirits of just men made perfect [teleioo- complete]” (Heb 12:23). It is real Spirit-led, mutual fellowship and sharing of life between those who “live in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). It is actually a large part of how we also “walk in the Spirit” (Gal 5:25). As we not only love and live in communion with the Lord our God, but also love and live in communion with our neighbour (the saints), we abide in His house, the “habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph 2:22).

And what does it mean to “dwell” in this place?

The word “dwell” in David’s declaration is the Hebrew yashab which means to sit (in quiet), remain, to marry, abide, to inhabit. We are to desire to remain in and inhabit this “house of the Lord” rather than settle for going in and out of it. Church as we’ve known it over the past 1900 years or so has produced and facilitated mindsets which cause believers to come and go as they please with God; especially the fact that buildings and organisations have been falsely portrayed as “the house of God”. If there is going to be any hope for the church to “dwell” in God’s presence continually, it must renounce carnal congregating and be daily led by His Spirit into perpetual habitation in His one house.

So, the one thing I desire of God is to live and walk daily in perpetual communion with His Spirit and those who He has placed around me who also walk that way.

“to behold the beauty of the LORD”

There are two major motives in our desire for and our seeking the abiding presence of God. They are “to behold the beauty of the Lord” and “to inquire in His temple”.

The first and foremost intention is to behold His beauty, which means- to commune with Him, to be in awe of Him, to understand and get to know Him, to be satisfied in Him, to be strengthened, healed, purified, matured and changed by Him, among other wonderful benefits of knowing Him.

Just as there are two aspects to the house of the Lord- communion with His presence and communion with those who are in the Spirit, there are two aspects to beholding the beauty of the Lord as well.

Of course we directly behold Him one on one through prayer and the Word in the secret place of personal communion. But we also behold His beauty as He manifests Himself through other Kingdom people in various gifts, administrations, operations and manifestations. You can behold God’s beauty in all creation but especially through those who are called by Him and walking with Him.

“to inquire in his temple”

The other main outworking of our desire for God and our seeking Him is “to inquire in His temple”. (Now remember that His temple is non-geographic, it is where you and He do communion… wherever that may be). This inquiring of Him means getting wisdom, clarity, direction and commands from Him (by Holy Spirit) - it is our avenue to obedience.

Jesus said:

If you love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; (John 14:15-17)

Paul told the saints in Rome:

Know you not, that to whom you yield [paristemi- be at hand, ready] yourselves servants to obey [hupakoe- attentive listening, submission], his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? (Rom 6:16)

We desire His presence to behold His beauty, but also to “yield” ourselves to “obey” Him. We must ‘be at hand’ and ‘ready’ to ‘attentively listen’ and ‘submit’. This is the fruit produced from beholding His beauty… this is Christianity.

Another way we inquire in his temple is by exposing ourself to other Spirit living people who He manifests through with Spirit-breathed words and actions (see 1 Cor 12:7). We don’t take anyone’s word for granted as being a command or directive from Father, but we should daily be open to, and even seeking, direction from God which comes through other believer’s words and lives.

Sadly, too many modern Christians miss out on living powerful lives in Christ’s Kingdom due to wrong perspectives about God and life. Many believers seem to look at God like He’s mainly a teddy bear to us, or a blessing dispenser, or even a harsh taskmaster- many believers miss what it is to be in Christ.

The two main points we addressed in this article should be the sum of our Christian life- this is what it’s all about. Sure the after life in heaven is a good thing and many other aspects of biblical Christianity on earth are too. But the heart of Christ for His people- the desire of God for us is “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; 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”.

 

REPRINT AGREEMENT

Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is permitted provided that complete source and website information for CHRIST IS ALL is included.
Thank you.

www.christisall.org

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Brett Jacobsen's teaching, Church Structure, Living Christianity, Prayer / Worship, Reformation/ Revival. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.