What does the psalmist mean in Psalm 27:4 when he says, "One thing I have asked of the Lord"?

Now all this being the case, what goes to make up my life here? You see there are two things that are connected with it. The first is that we have in verse 4, and that is, that I have one simple absorbing and commanding object before my affections. "One thing." It is the simple expression of a heart that has but one motive, one object; in other words, it is what the Lord refers to when He speaks of "a single eye." "Let thine eye be single," that is, an eye taking in but one object. I have but one object, one commanding object before me, and what is it? Mark this, "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" — that I may dwell there. Of course I pass over the fact that this is a Jewish figure, such as would necessarily be found in the Psalms. We find there all that which was connected with the Jew, the tabernacle, the temple, the place of God's own immediate presence, where the Shekinah was, and so on. I pass over that; and I take it simply as an illustration, a most beautiful and exquisite instance, of how the life of God, this divine principle in a soul, whether we find it in the Old Testament or the New, returns to its source. I do not care what the time may be, this blessed principle, this divine principle that is in us, this new life, always, where the soul is simple, such as you have unfolded here, returns to its source. "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 our life." May I ask you, Is that the desire uppermost in your heart? How much does it operate in your affections? What is the one thing that you desire and seek after? We have to speak to one another personally, beloved friends, about these things. What then, is the one thing that you desire and seek after? Well, you say, I seek after salvation, and I seek after safety, and I seek after deliverance from wrath and judgment, and I seek after the things of God. But is this the thing that is in your heart, the thing that you seek after, is it the continuous abiding, and dwelling, in the house of the Lord? Because, you see, it is this which alone gives character. You may depend upon it, the place where you live is the place that gives you character.

We often hear the expression "heavenly." Well, no person can be "heavenly" unless he lives in heaven. The fact is, we all of us have too much the tendency to put off heaven until we die. We think of it as the place where God is, and where Christ is, and it is the resource for us when we leave this world, when we leave our bodies behind us. When we cannot live any longer here, we go to heaven. Or, it may be, if you advance a little upon that, when a person has everything blighted and ruined down here, and there is not a single thing left, then he turns to heaven. It is like a person taking refuge from the storm, and when the storm is over, coming out again to enjoy the things around. Is that the case with you and me, beloved friends? That is the natural tendency and feeling of our hearts. We have, very poorly, if at all in our souls, the thought of continuously abiding in that wonderful place, where God is free to express Himself in all the infinite fulness of His love to us. He does not express Himself to us here. He gives us His care, His sympathy, His help, His cheer, His solace; He takes us by the hand, and leads us along the way, every step of the journey: but He does not express Himself to us here. He does there, that is the difference. That is what I feel, beloved friends, that we want, every one of us in these days, a more habitual dwelling in the house of the Lord. You may depend upon it, we should be a different kind of people altogether if we dwelt there. It is not visiting there, it is not running there for shelter out of the storm, but I will tell you what it is, it is knowing it as home, with all the joys of home. Do you know what they are? Home! It is not being driven there through sheer necessity, but it is the attractiveness of it that draws us there. What do you know of the attractions of that blessed One who is up there? You see, it is not a doctrine, nor a theory, but it is a divine, living, adorable, blessed, transcendent Person for our affections. It is a Person who has an attractiveness peculiar to Himself, and one who throws this attractiveness, and blessedness, and beauty, connected with Himself, around the affections of my heart. It is not, as I said, that I am driven by mere necessity from all the things that are round about me here, but I am attracted by the beauties and blessedness and glories of that scene where Christ is everything to God, and where God delights to express Himself in all His fulness. There is the spot I long more to dwell in, to live in, to abide in; that is the place I desire to know as my home, and that is the "one thing" the psalmist speaks of here. To me it is a beautiful instance of the expression of this divine life in a person, the life of God — "One thing have I desire of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."

Thus the heart reposes in God its strength; and God becomes its one desire and sufficiency. "One thing have I asked of Jehovah; this do I seek after: that I may dwell in Jehovah's house all the days of my life, to behold the graciousness of Jehovah, and to inquire in His temple." One can imagine the attraction for a true Israelite of that place where Jehovah dwelt in the midst of the people, even though the inner sanctuary could not be penetrated. Faith would still, as it were, penetrate it, and God not withhold Himself from the heart thus longing after Him. These longings the Psalms exhibit to us, and they constitute largely the charm of this precious book. To us the "graciousness of Jehovah" has been displayed in a way which makes all that was known before to be only rudimentary knowledge. He has unveiled His glory. He has come out to walk amongst men. He has given us boldness to enter into the holiest, and an abiding place in His presence as priests and worshipers. And yet how little are we beyond the admonition of these yearnings of the men of an elder time! This "one thing" which some of them could speak of, — this burning, seraphic longing after One to sense the Invisible, — have we no need of self-questioning whether to us it is the passion that these psalms express? Ah, have we not need of it? Think of the complete revelation of God now made to us; think of the open volume of Scripture in our hand; think of how of necessity the soul thirsting after God must turn to these stores of heavenly treasures, infinite yet accessible, and exult in the search, with the Spirit given to us, of the "deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10); think of the intercourse, the communion, enjoyed by those who will come together to compare their individual gains in this way, sharing with others that which in being divided increases the more we divide it. There is no need to ask the extent to which all this is realized; and there can be only deepest humiliation in thinking of how little beyond the surface of Scripture we are or care to be. "To inquire in His temple," when its roof is the whole arch of heaven, — when its length stretches from the beginnings of history to the end of prophecy, — when His word and work unite in Christ as the Life-Centre and glory of all! — ah, how is it possible to imagine how little in eighteen centuries of a completed Bible and the indwelling Spirit has been attained!

Indeed, it is clear from this psalm, that the more we learn of God, and the more we meditate upon the manifestations of His love, the more we desire to know of Him. It was so with David, for after telling us what Jehovah was to him, how He had succoured him, and his confidence in view of future dangers, his whole heart flows out in the next verse, as he says, "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." (v. 4.) Little can be done beyond giving an outline of what is here involved; but we earnestly press the reader to ponder upon it until his whole soul is possessed with the desire and purpose which governed and formed the heart of David. Remark, first of all, that he not only had desired this thing of the Lord (which surely was a true beginning), but that it was also the purpose of his heart to follow after it. And what was it that David so ardently longed for? It was to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of his life, that there he might contemplate the display of His glory and His beauty, and learn His mind, for it was in the temple that Jehovah communicated His thoughts to them that waited upon Him. (Compare Psalm 73:17, etc.) Is not David in this an example to all believers? For to know Christ, and to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, should ever be the supreme object of our hearts. Let us, then, learn that to attain this we must constantly live in spirit where Christ is. Nowhere else can we behold His glory, or hear His voice.

In Psalm 27 we have two distinct parts, and, I apprehend, then in the last two verses the result for the mind of the saint as taught of God. The first part, verses 1-6, is the confidence of the believer, and that absolutely, whatever enemies there were. In the second part, 7-12, we find the cry of distress. In the former, singleness of eye lays the ground of confidence; in the second, the call of Jehovah to seek His face. Enemies without or oppressors within (for the remnant of the Jews will find both against them), a host and war arising, awake no fear. Jehovah is the light and salvation of the soul; its only desire, dwelling in the house of Jehovah to see His beauty and inquire in His temple. He had known Him casting confusion on the enemies of the faithful. He sought Him as the desire of his heart. In the time of trouble He would hide him, and the assault of foes would only be the occasion of lifting up his head above them, and then he would offer sacrifices of joy.

The psalm shows us the working of this in ordinary men according to His Spirit. Jehovah is the saints' light by faith, lightens up all around. There is no power of darkness for the spirit, when darkness is there in power. It rules in the enemies, but light is in the heart from the Lord, and it walks thus in the light. This is a great consolation. But the Lord is more than this - He is actual deliverance. This, till the cup was drunk, He could not be for Christ; but He is known to be so for the redeemed soul in the midst of the trial. The same revelation of Jehovah which gives light gives us in the light to be assured of the deliverance: I do not say necessarily to see the deliverance, for the how may be obscured, but to be assured of it. Because Jehovah is there in light, He will deliver; so the Father for us, and in His place of government, the Lord. But if it be God Himself, clearly there is nothing to fear. This is celebrated in thinking of the wicked, whom no conscience restrains - of war, where will is unbridled, however violent and mighty; if the Lord is there, all is provided for. But an important principle, or state of soul, is associated with, and is the basis of, this confidence - entire singleness of eye and desire, the looking to Jehovah for, and seeking one thing, to be with Him, in His presence where He is, and can be adored; to behold His beauty, and learn there His will and mind. But this, on the other hand, is connected with confidence in His goodness. The soul, defenceless in itself, knows Jehovah will hide it in the time of trouble in His pavilion. Who shall hurt or disturb it there? And what love in the Lord, what interest He takes in those He loves! The soul dwells with Him, and dwells in safety. It is not apparent deliverance, but the secret of His tabernacle. And it is wonderful bow Jehovah does when evil rages, and there seems no resource; the soul seeks none, it confides sweetly and quietly in Jehovah, sure of security in Him. Verse 6 counts on full deliverance and praise in His tabernacle, now not a hiding-place, nor a secret, but the blessed place of open praise.

David's affection for the house of God is revealed yet further in Psalm 27. It was the one object of his present desire. He had full confidence that he would dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, as Psalm 23 shows. Now we find that in keeping with this his present desire was to dwell in God's house all the days of his life, inasmuch as His beauty is beheld there, and in His temple enquiry can be made of Him.

"Beauty" in this verse apparently has the sense of pleasantness or graciousness. If 1 Chronicles 17 be read, we may see how the graciousness of the Lord was made known to David, and how he "came and sat before the Lord." The verse in Psalm 27 seems to be reminiscent of that. On several occasions too we read of David inquiring of the Lord, and he knew that His temple was the special place for that. To withdraw from the noise and distraction of the world into the quiet of the Divine presence is the way in which the mind of God may be known and His graciousness be realized.

Above every other consideration, David desired "one thing" of the Lord, and purposed to seek after this, that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. Yet the temple was not built at this time, nor would David be allowed to live in it if it had been built; for he was not a priest. It seems that God gave David a deeper view of the meaning of the house of God than what was merely literal, just as today we know the house of God is the Church of the living God, those redeemed by the blood of Christ and indwell by the Spirit of God. Certainly, now every true believer dwells in the house of God: it is his proper home at all times. In fact, he is blessed far beyond the blessing of the priests of Israel, who were never allowed in the holiest of all, except the high priest once a year. But we are invited to have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Heb. 10:19). Why? Because His sacrifice of Calvary has caused the veil to be torn from top to bottom, thus opening the way for the entrance of all believers. It is their proper dwelling now.

Christian reader, are you “a man of rest”? Have you found “rest unto your soul”? The vast majority of believers in Christ have not; and why? why their disquietude, their lack of a settled calm in the midst of trying circumstances, sickness, loss of property, want of success in business, and the thousand and one things of life that harrow the heart, and torment the soul, and from which none may hope to escape — for none are promised immunity? The answer is simple — it is wrapped in allegorical form in the story of these brothers, Baruch and Seraiah. Most Christians have a mind fashioned more after the pattern of Baruch than that of Seraiah; they are ambitious, they hope for something in life apart from, or in addition to, Christ. They do not in their hearts really submit to the judgment of God pronounced in His word against this world; and they consequently seek something here in this scene of sin, either for themselves or for their children. And these things are not always evil in themselves; nor is the mere possession of them wrong or inconsistent in a child of God; it is in the seeking of them that the evil lies. “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek for” confessed the psalmist. This was not anything of earth, but that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life (not just to go to heaven when he died), to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple (Ps. 27:4). It was a purely spiritual ambition, he coveted earnestly what it is lawful for us all to long for. And this brings rest, this maintains the soul in quiet and unbroken calm in the midst of a groaning, toiling, restive world, never satisfied, and altogether unbelieving concerning the judgment hanging over its head, or the suppressed volcano boiling for vent beneath it.

It is just this that made me turn to this Psalm — "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after." 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. Unhindered access has been opened to us. There is no veil now. We may in spirit dwell there now, "to behold the beauty of the Lord." He had not yet been revealed when these words were written; He had not yet assumed the form of a Servant. His face, once more marred than that of any man, is now radiant with the glory of God. We know Him. But no visible form could have been before the Psalmist as he uttered these words. But we know what he spoke of anticipatively. Once we saw no beauty in Him that we should desire Him; but now He is the chiefest among ten thousand, the altogether lovely. How far are our hearts dwelling in His presence, beholding His beauty, and enquiring in His temple, with a deepening entering into His mind?

Heart longings and blessed anticipations follow. They long for the earthly sanctuary, we for our heavenly abode. Their desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord--to behold the beauty of the Lord--to inquire in His temple. And we too desire to be with Him, to behold Him face to face, and what it will mean then to inquire in His holy temple! What it will be when up yonder we shall no longer look into a glass darkly! Then follows praise. Their heads will be lifted up--"therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto Jehovah." And while Israel will sing on earth when their earthly hope and deliverance has come, the praises of His church will fill the heavens above.