One [thing] have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire [of him] in his temple.
Enemies surround David in this psalm, and under that pressure he asks for one thing only. Three questions follow: what is that one thing, where is this dwelling, and what do you see and do there?
Start with the number in the verse. It describes more than a prayer; it describes a state of heart.
"One thing." It is the simple expression of a heart that has only one motive, one object. In other words, it is what the Lord refers to when He speaks of "a single eye" — an eye taking in only one object.
David does not stop at asking. He adds that he will seek after it.
Notice first that he had not only asked this of the Lord, which was a true beginning. It was also the purpose of his heart to follow after it. And what did David long for so deeply? It was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. There he could contemplate the display of His glory and His beauty, and learn His mind. The temple was the place where the Lord shared His thoughts with those who waited on Him.
"All the days of my life" fixes the timing. The prayer is about now as much as later.
It is undividedness of heart that comes out here. "One thing"; what is it? "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life": not merely when I go to heaven. His presence has become the sanctuary of our hearts. We now have unhindered access. There is no veil now. We may in spirit dwell there now, "to behold the beauty of the Lord." ... Once we saw no beauty in Him that we should desire Him; but now He is the chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely.
Why does this dwelling matter day by day? One writer answers from ordinary life.
Continually dwelling in the house of the Lord is the one thing that gives character. You can be sure of it: the place where you live is the place that gives you character.
With enemies close, we might expect David to ask for shelter. He gives a different reason.
For what purpose are we to dwell there? To get out of the storm? No. Out of difficulties? No. Out of the exercises and trials that we are in here? Not a word about it. What is it, then? Just this, "to behold the beauty of the Lord." ... I love to think of that. It is like God to give me a motive in Himself, outside of all the wretched, miserable, selfish things that surround me here.
Commentators differ on what "beauty" means here. Trench sees the loveliness of Christ; another writer reads the word more plainly, and ties it to a habit.
"Beauty" in this verse apparently has the sense of pleasantness or graciousness. ... Withdraw from the noise and distraction of the world into the quiet of God's presence. That is how you come to know the mind of God and to experience His graciousness.
The verse ends with a second thing done in that place: inquiring. One writer says the Hebrew behind it is warmer than it sounds.
There is another thing in that verse: "to inquire in his temple." I make no claim to scholarship, but the strict meaning of the Hebrew words is "to meditate with joy in his temple." I believe that is the literal force of those words in the original language. "To meditate with joy." "One thing have I asked: to dwell, to behold, and to meditate with joy."
The psalm opens with a man who will not fear an army. Verse 4 is not a change of subject; it explains where that steadiness comes from.
But one important principle, or state of soul, goes with this confidence and forms its basis. It is complete singleness of eye and desire. The soul looks to the Lord for one thing and seeks one thing: to be with Him, in His presence where He is and where we can adore Him; to behold His beauty, and to learn there His will and mind.
- One desire. The verse is the voice of a heart with only one motive and one object — what Scripture calls a single eye.
- One pursuit. Desiring is the true beginning; David adds that he will seek after it, making it the settled purpose of his heart.
- One dwelling. David asks for all his days, not only the life to come. Access is open now, and the believer may dwell in that presence today.
- One sight. He does not go in to escape the storm but to behold the Lord's beauty — a motive God gives us in Himself.
- One result. This singleness of eye and desire is the very basis of the confidence that makes the rest of the psalm fearless.
For in the day of evil he will hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tent will he keep me concealed he will set me high upon a rock.
Verse 4 asked God for one thing: to live in His house. Verse 5 is the answer. The place David longed for becomes the place God hides him when trouble comes. So what does God promise here — escape from the trouble, or shelter inside it? The writers below quote an older translation, where the ESV's "shelter" is "pavilion" and "the cover of his tent" is "the secret of his tabernacle."
The first half of this psalm is not a cry for help but a settled certainty, and verse 5 belongs to that section.
In Psalm 27 we have two distinct parts... The first part, verses 1-6, is the confidence of the believer. That confidence is complete, whatever enemies there were... Enemies outside or oppressors inside... an army and a war rising up stir no fear. Jehovah is the light and salvation of the soul. Its only desire is to live in the house of Jehovah, to see His beauty and to ask of Him in His temple... In the time of trouble He would hide him. The attack of enemies would only be the occasion for lifting his head above them, and then he would offer sacrifices of joy.
The shelter is not a new address found in an emergency. It is the house he had already asked to live in.
How often we need trouble to bring our hearts back to the Lord. But it was not trouble that led the Psalmist to seek the Lord. He sought Him for His own sake. Then, when trouble did come, it found him already hidden in the innermost part of His pavilion, at home with Him in all that closeness.
Notice too who does the acting in this verse.
You want to live in the house of God; trouble comes, and He hides you where you have been living! There is not a word about me, or what I do; but He hides me. Where? Where my heart dwelt before!
Read it closely. The promise does not say God will take the trouble away.
Notice that there is no deliverance yet in this verse. It is not "in the time of trouble God will come in and take me out of it," but "he will hide me." It is not "he will quiet the winds and waves" — not a word about that... He carries us in His power. He hides us. He does not remove the difficulty. He gives me the upper hand over it, and His own power carries me through it... Should we pity the person in trouble, if Jehovah hides him in His pavilion?
So when trouble comes, the believer is not the one who has to act.
When trouble or difficulty comes, I am not running around looking for a way out. There I am, resting and quiet, and God is active. He hides me, He holds me up, He acts for me in the time of trouble.
The verse piles up images: a pavilion, the hidden inner part of the tent. One writer also notes the shift from "all the days of my life" in verse 4 to the day of trouble in verse 5.
David had said before, "all the days of my life:" now he says "in the time of trouble." Do we not learn from this that all the days of our lives are a time of trouble and testing? Because of this we continually need the secret of the presence of the Lord. David uses different words for it: "His temple," "His pavilion," "the secret of His tabernacle"... Linked with this is our being "set on high upon a rock." In God's presence we shall always find our feet planted on solid ground. In fact, Christ is the Rock, and though we may at times tremble on the Rock, yet the Rock never trembles.
The last clause adds something the hiding alone does not: height and permanence.
Dwelling in the house of Jehovah, and engrossed... with His beauty, he is really in a region outside of all trouble; and if it were possible for trouble to get into that divine circle of light and blessing, there is the action of Jehovah in concealing the one who has been drawn into His presence; He will hide him even in the secret, in the innermost recesses, of His tabernacle... "He shall set me up upon a rock" — upon an unchangeable foundation, one therefore which will ensure security and stability for ever.
The psalm speaks of a real sanctuary and real human enemies. One writer sees a wider picture in it.
The immediate application here is to human enemies, though the literal sanctuary gives... only a picture of spiritual truths of much wider range... God has indeed lifted us high on the rock-foundation of Christ's blessed work. In Him we have entered the heavenly sanctuary, safely hidden from the enemy... So the sanctuary is our safe retreat at all times. It is the place where the world takes its true shape for us, and its hold on us is loosened... Here, then, the head is lifted over all enemies, and the sacrifice of praise becomes the necessary outlet of a full and grateful heart.
- Desire first. The shelter of verse 5 is the house of verse 4. Trouble finds the believer already at home with God.
- Hidden, not removed. God does not promise to calm the waves here. He promises to hide you, so you go through the trouble instead of around it.
- Rest, because He acts. Every verb belongs to God: He hides, He holds me up, He acts for me. So the believer can rest.
- Rock under the shelter. Hiding gives safety. The rock lifts the head above enemies, and Christ the Rock never trembles.
- Praise as the outcome. From that place God lifts the head, and sacrifices of joy follow. Shelter ends in worship.