A Road Map for Life | Beginning With GodSample

ONE THING (Psalm 27)

If God said to you that you could have one prayer answered, what would it be? Just one thing you could pray for that He would do, anything at all. What would it be?

In Psalm 27, David declared what his one thing would be. It is in verse 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 enquire in his temple.”

I think it is wonderful to note here that David wanted that one thing, and he got it. He desired to worship God all the days of his life and to end his days in fellowship with the Lord.

When we hear his name, we immediately think of that 17-year-old young man standing in the valley of Elah, being used mightily of God to take out Goliath. But we must remember that David’s story was much more than that. In fact, most of that story comes in his old age, living in the presence of God and working through his own failures and sins to find fellowship with God again. God answered his prayer.

You can learn a lot about a person by knowing the desires of his or her heart. Solomon had an opportunity where God gave him a choice of whatever he wanted. He chose wisdom. He got it, but because of that choice, God also gave him so many other things he could have asked for.

Be careful about what you want — what you wish for and what you ask for. I ask you again: What would your “one thing” be?

We don’t know exactly when Psalm 27 was written, but one can surmise and even pick up on certain keys given throughout these 14 verses.

Verses 1-2: “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? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.” It seems that David was writing during a period of time when some enemy had come up against him.

Verse 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.” It is obvious that he was not sitting in his palace surrounded by many comfortable things. He may have been in a cave with his very life at risk, on the run from the enemy.

Verse 10: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Those who loved him best were nowhere to be found. These are the words of a man who was under duress and in distress. He was struggling.

Verse 13: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

What does this say to us? It says that in the hardest times of life, the one thing you need is the presence of God.

What we pray for is not always our greatest need. Sometimes we just want relief or an escape, an emergency exit from our circumstances. But David did not ask for that in Psalm 27.

The great peace and blessing in life is not the absence of trouble. It is the presence of God. It is not the enemy departing or loved ones returning. It is not all of the blessings that may be bestowed around you. It is the process of hiding yourself in God’s presence. As the hymnwriter so famously penned:

There is a place of quiet rest,

Near to the heart of God;

A place where sin cannot molest,

Near to the heart of God.

You can find joy and peace in God’s presence no matter what is going on around you.

It has been said, “Sometimes God calms the storm, and sometimes He calms me.” It is obvious in Psalm 27 that God did not choose to calm everything that was happening around David. Instead, He gave peace to David’s heart. That is the greatest kind of peace — not calm after the storm but calm in the midst of the storm.

All through scripture, this expression “one thing” is found. The Lord Jesus said in Luke 10:42 of Mary (the sister of Martha and Lazarus) who sat faithfully at his feet that she “hath chosen that good part.” It was just one thing, to worship Him.

The man who was healed by Christ said in John 9:25, “Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

What if we could boil life down to just one thing? What would it be?

I think David’s one thing is a revelation of what we all need in our lives, and that is worship. Break down verse 4 and you can see that need more clearly.

“That I may dwell in the house of the Lord …” In other words, live in the presence of God. It is what He desires for every one of us. That presence is not found in a church building; it can be anywhere, because the Lord said in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

God is not bound by geography. In David’s time, God in the temple was also God in the cave. He was God in the palace and God in the wilderness. Today, He wants you to live in His presence.

I think of that well-known ending to Psalm 23, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalm 23:6). We know we will dwell in God’s presence someday, but we can also do it today.

Also in verse 4: “To behold the beauty of the Lord …” This gets even more personal. David is talking about not just being near the Lord but being close enough to behold His beauty — His goodness and His glory.

There is nothing more beautiful than God. In fact, everything that is truly beautiful in this world is simply a reflection of its Creator. I am afraid that sometimes we are enamored by earthly beauty just because we have not gotten a glimpse of heavenly beauty. We are captivated by the pleasures of this world because we have not thought enough about being in His presence.

We can see God’s beauty in His creation and the world around us, but it is best seen in His Word, through His truth. God reveals Himself in scripture. If you want to live in His presence and behold His beauty, get in the Word today. Let God speak to you and reveal Himself to you.

Verse 4 ends with these words: “and to enquire in his temple.” When you get in His presence and behold His beauty, the natural response is to talk to Him. This is a reference to prayer, communing with God.

The enemies may come up against you, but you can talk to the Lord. Those closest to you may forsake you or fail you, but you can talk to the Lord.

David has boiled all of life down to the greatest relationship of all, and that is with God Himself.

So we end as we began. If you could have one thing, what would it be? A bigger house, a nicer car, a fatter bank account, a better retirement?

All of those things are temporal. But today you can have a life of worship that is lived in the presence of God. Make this the one thing you pray for and seek today.