“One thing I asked of the LORD”
"One thing I asked 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." (Psalm 27:4)
I remember many times after college when I would play the gospel song called "One Thing I Ask" alone on my guitar and cry a lot. Since my freshman year, after receiving God’s call and deciding to obey it, the difficulties and struggles I faced made me grow to love this song deeply.
The hardships and pain I was going through made me ask for one thing.
That one thing was to dwell in the house of the LORD and to behold the beauty of the LORD.
Today, in Psalm 27:5, David seeks the house of the LORD amid affliction.
Why did he seek the house of the LORD?
What this world can give us is affliction, pain, and sorrow.
Although momentary joy and pleasure might deceive us into thinking otherwise, what the world ultimately offers is affliction, pain, and tears.
But the amazing thing is that when we Christians experience affliction, pain, and sorrow, we become even more earnest in asking God for “one thing.”
When we see the ugly side of the world and feel discouraged, disappointed, wounded, hurting, and shed tears, the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with a deep longing to “dwell in the house of the LORD and behold the beauty of the LORD.”
It is not the “house” of this world but the house of the LORD where our hearts burn with longing for the Lord, especially when we go through affliction, suffering, and adversity.
The more that pain increases, the more fervently we ask for that one thing.
Why?
David says it is because he wanted God to “hide him in His shelter in the day of trouble; to conceal him under the cover of His tent; to set him high upon a rock” (v. 5).
Just as a chick hides under its mother’s wings or in her embrace when it senses the danger of an eagle, so when our enemy Satan tries to swallow us with all kinds of temptation, persecution, and suffering, we earnestly long to be in the house of the LORD, held safely in the Lord’s arms.
Therefore, for us Christians, “affliction” is a blessing that leads us to prayer.
We pray, and affliction causes us to ask for one thing.
That one thing is to dwell in the house of the LORD and behold the longing beauty of the Lord.
Christians who see the beauty of the Lord even in the affliction of the world are those who pray and ask for one thing.
Because they have seen the beauty of the Lord with the eyes of the spirit, they can end their prayers after being placed “high on a rock.”
I too desire to pray like this.
With the hope of going to the house of the LORD, embraced in the loving arms of God the Father, and meeting beloved brothers and sisters,
Shared by Pastor James Kim
(After singing “Toward That High Place”)