Psalm 27 • One thing have I asked of the Lord

Psalm chapter 27 every time we get into the Psalms I feel like I'm learning a little bit more how to pray as I'm just looking at David watching listening how he responds to the Lord how he speaks to the Lord it's just it's just so insightful we're gonna begin by reading through Psalm chapter 27 it's not terribly long goes like this the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear when evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh my adversaries and foes it is they who will who stumble and fall though an army and camp against me my heart shall not fear the war arise against me yet I will be confident one thing have 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 gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble he will conceal me under the cover of his tent he will lift me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy I will sing and make melody to the Lord here Oh Lord when I cry aloud be gracious to me and answer me you said seek my face my heart says to you your face Lord do I seek hide not your face for me turn not your servant away in anger o you who have been my help cast me not off forsake me not o God of my salvation for my father and my mother have forsaken me but the Lord will take me in teach me your way O Lord and lead me on a level path because of my enemies give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the Lord let's pray Heavenly Father Lord III feel sometimes when I read the Psalms of David like I'm standing on holy ground and the communication with you is so rich and so poignant and so intimate lord help us to understand it and help us to apply it we ask you Lord to use these words to really challenge our hearts to draw nearer to you we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord amen the Psalms have a powerful way of making us gaze into a mirror that I think sometimes we would rather not look at I gotta tell you I I struggled today I felt like I was kind of giving birth I know not even close I get it but in a similar sort of a way I really felt like I was struggling with this Psalm because I I see in it I see in the Psalms particularly a mirror that casts back to me my own reflection and honestly it makes me cringe what I see you know it's kind of that feeling you get when you see a piece of clothing you know in in the catalog or online or or even on a mannequin in the store and you're thinking wow that looks really good and then you go grab one in your size take it into the dressing room put it on and you look in the mirror and you kind of like that doesn't look anything like that thing made it look you know sort of thing and suddenly you kind of realized that that that model of what you saw you know didn't really show you how good that those clothes looked all they did was show you how bad you looked by comparison that's what this song does for me but in kind of a good way because I want to bring it to the Lord in this song David talks about his all-consumed passion or desire of his heart and it is bound up in in in in what is in verse four so look with me there in verse four once again it says one thing have I asked of the Lord and that will I in fact seek or run after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord to enquire in his temple that's that that's the verse I want you to be thinking about for just a little bit here David speaks of one thing he's one of those one thing uh there are people you know who you meet them and they're there one thing is you know they're not they don't have a huge sort of a thing stuff that they run after in life they've just got one passion you know sort of in their life and and that's what David is kind of expressing here this one overriding passion not two not three he says there's one thing that I have asked of the Lord the New King James Version says one thing have I desired of the Lord and then he goes on to say and I'm determined to have it I'm gonna seek after it with all of my heart and there are three things that are listed in this one thing to dwell with God all the days of his life to always gaze upon the beauty of the Lord he said that's my request I I want to talk to God I I want to dwell with him I want to gaze upon him and I want to inquire of him in his presence notice he says in his temple keep in mind the temple wasn't built he's not talking about an earthly temple here he's talking about the very presence of the Lord and and we read these this verse and his his statements here and it kind of sounds to us like a beautiful piece of biblical poetry but we seem I don't know maybe I should just use the first person I seem so entirely unable to relate to this level of devotion No and godly desire that says there's one thing that I desire of the Lord I mean if God came to me and said I'll give you one desire of your heart I have to ask myself what would I ask for because I believe this is what David this is well this is what David asked for I don't think he ever got that question his son did believe it or not what do you what do you want ask it and I'll give it to you but if had the Lord spoken to David in this manner just you know what is your desire you know hey I want to I want to dwell with you I want to behold you I want to talk to you always in your glorious presence that's what I want I wonder sometimes what I would add what I would answer the Lord if I were if I were asked that question but you know we we read this and we wonder why is it the David wanted so much these things above other earthly desires because in my life I think about you know I got a lot of other earthly desires that I know I probably shouldn't or at least shouldn't take the place of the Lord and I wonder sometimes why was it that there was such a a purity to David's desires and assuming that that is his true focus and there's no reason not to we're forced to admit sometimes that it's not ours and we wonder why it's his but if we go back and read in the Bible about David's life particularly you know going through reading through you know 1st and 2nd Samuel that sort of thing we begin to learn and understand why David's focus was so singular toward the Lord and it was because he suffered so much during his life and we forget that sometimes we just think it that was David the King his cool stays pretty cool he was the king you know had all those wives you know well it didn't that bring him heartache David went through a tremendous amount of suffering in his life and he was quite literally pressed into sort of a a seeking of a posture of of seeking God and I've seen it happen in my own life and I've seen it happen in the lives of others when we are going through challenges I mean scary challenges that kind of keep you up at night sort of stuff there is a place in our lives where you know we we have the that freedom I guess or impetus the motive motivation to press in on the Lord but not everybody does not everybody does just because somebody's going through a hard time doesn't mean that they're going to press in on God but I believe that that is what was going on in David's life that's that's what happened the more struggles that he faced the more he pressed in on God the more he wanted to know God and so forth and you know it's always it's always an unsettling thing when when something happens in our lives that you know causes us to see and admit that the relationship that we had with God that was good enough yesterday you know isn't good enough or deep enough for today you know I don't know if you've been there I trust most of you have if you haven't you will and that's that's a challenging realization to come to the in other words the the resources of my walk with God may have been sufficient for what I was dealing with yesterday but those resources are not going to get me through that level of relationship with God that level of intimacy with God that amount of prayer and devotion is not going to get me through now this is I have to step up I have to press in I have to know him more better I have to find a deeper walk with God or I'm not gonna make it but once again even though I think that realization hit David pretty often it's not necessarily the response of everyone to go through a difficult season and then respond by pressing in but it you know in David's life his sufferings seem to refine his desires in such a way that this this just became this all-consuming passion for the Lord in his life in other words the Lord became his one thing we should get a t-shirt made up I always think about getting a t-shirt I don't think I've ever done it once but mine would say I want the Lord to be my one thing you know doesn't mean David was perfect it doesn't even mean that he stopped struggling with fear when he dealt with issues and stuff it just means that his focus became refined let me show you on the screen the New Testament sort of a clarification of this refining of one's attention Paul writes since then you've been raised with Christ set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your minds on things above not on earthly things now what does Paul have in common with David he was pressed into this posture wasn't he he was pressed through the circumstances of life into this place of making God is one thing and so his word to other people was you know set your minds on that one thing to focus your heart on the Lord and not to be focused on earthly things you know when you haven't been pressed through difficulties and trials the things of this world seem kind of inviting and you even kind of think to yourself I don't know I think I'd like to try that or I'd like to be involved in that or I'd like to experience that and then when those things are brought in to a dim focus because of the difficulties of suffering in this life and the realization that this life is over in a whisper you know it it causes an individual to become refined in their focus and to make God their one thing and so as we go on in this Psalm by raising his eyesight above the threat and fixing his gaze on the face of God David was able to say what he did but here in verse 5 and following look with me in your Bible for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble he will conceal me under the cover of his tent he will lift me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy I will sing and make melody to the Lord I want you to know that when David wrote these things he was under attack I want you to know that when he when these words came to him he was struggling he was challenged and yet because he had made God the one thing in his life he was able to come back and say but this is what the Lord is gonna do he's going to take care of me and you can actually sing and make melody in your heart even in the midst of some of the most challenging and trying circumstances of life and that's when you know you've made God you're one thing but that doesn't mean David you know doesn't lay out his requests to God verse 7 he says hear me or hear O Lord when I cry aloud be gracious to me and so forth I love verse 8 - you have said seek my face my heart says to you your face Lord do I seek Wow just coming right back at God you said seek my face I'm here I am seeking your face right so his prayer in verse 9 is hide not your face from me don't turn away don't be angry you know you've been my help so don't cast me off don't forsake me because you are my deliverer he says he calls him god of my salvation which means god of my deliverance and then he continues his prayer in verse 11 says teach me your ways o God and lead me on a level path because of my enemies wow that's interesting that is interesting when I'm talking to God about my enemies I'm usually not asking him to help me be more obedient but that's what David is saying help me to be more obedient because of my enemies I usually pray and say help me to be courageous because of my enemies help me to get rid of my enemies you know or Lord overcome my enemies you know sort of a thing but when's the last time you prayed Lord make me more a reflection of who you are because of my enemies Wow verse 12 says give me not up to the will of my adversaries for false witnesses have risen against me and they breathe out violence and this is what's going on this is what is happening and then these two final statements made at the end of the psalm deserve our attention the first is a word of faith verse 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and by the way this is quite a statement you know when you know that David and the situation's that he went through in life were often life-threatening there were people that wanted to kill him even when he was King one of them was his son that's pretty stinky but when you know that people are not just wanting to remove you from your job or from the family or whatever they they want to remove they want to snuff out your life to come back in prayer when you're praying for the Lord's deliverance and to make a statement like this that says I believe that I'm going to see the goodness of the Lord right here in the land of living what David is saying and this is not just positive thinking he's saying I believe God is going to protect and preserve my life I believe it and it's and it's hard and I know this it's hard to express words of faith when we're going through intense challenges and when we're even unsure of what the future holds but I think it's important to speak words of faith speaking faith in God's ability to make a difference in our lives to protect us to deliver us from whatever present threat we happen to be facing and it was David's regular practice and if we're going to approach the Psalms in such a way as to say lord teach me to pray write teach me how to pray because I kind of stink at this prayer business then I'm gonna take like this and I'm gonna consider this what I need to understand as it relates to learning how to pray David is showing me an example that in the midst of trials in the midst of petitions for deliverance to speak that word of faith Lord I believe I believe in you I believe in your ability to protect I believe in your ability to preserve I believe in your ability to deliver I believe that you are there and you're hearing me and so forth I think that that's I think that's really important and then the final statement in this psalm is kind of a word of encouragement to others who are facing the same challenges and David says wait for the Lord in fact he repeats it at the very end of the verse wait for the Lord so two times there and once again as we said last week and it's very important reminder waiting on the Lord speaks of a positive patient eager anticipation of the Lord's work in your life it is not sitting around twiddling your thumbs it is not sitting around wishing hoping upon a star I really hope no it is an eager expectation obviously it's not something you currently have that's why you're waiting for it so it's very important to see that and then sandwiched between those two exhortation to wait for the Lord he says this be strong and let your heart take courage be strong be strong you know just this last Sunday in our study of Ephesians chapter 6 the Apostle Paul spoke to us about being strong too during spiritual warfare and he said be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might and that's how we are to be strong you know the Bible doesn't expect us to be strong in ourselves God doesn't expect you to be strong in yourself be strong in him be strong in the Lord let your strength come from him right and then the words of Jesus from John chapter 14 he says peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid these are very similar expectations to what David is saying at the end of this Psalm be strong let your heart take courage don't let your heart be troubled don't become afraid keep your focus and trust in the Lord you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 25,011

Rating: 4.8370671 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament

Id: 2FD31lPMsIc

Length: 21min 44sec (1304 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 28 2018