One Thing I Ask (Psalms 27:4-6)

Intro: Good morning FE, I hope you had a Happy Christmas with your family and friends. We are glad you are here with us on this last Sunday of 2024. We have had a great year full of people trusting in the Lord, we have 6 Baptisms, 10 Baby dedications, our 2nd year of Downline Espanol, we have had some amazing D-Group Moments, God has been using our sermon series through the book of Romans to grow us in our faith and knowledge as we are conformed to the image of Jesus. We should praise God for how He is working in FE.

On this last Sunday of 2024, it is a good time to examine our lives, to look at our lives and evaluate our time, our passions, our goals and as I was thinking, how can we evaluate our lives I began to thinkif there is one thing I could ask the Lord, what would be.

If you can ask one thing from the Lord, what would you ask? Would you ask for more wisdom like Solomon? Would you ask for a better job? Maybe more knowledge? Maybe more understanding of life’s mysteries? If there is one thing you could ask, what would it be? It is an interesting question, because that one thing you ask, would reveal much about what is going on in your heart and mind, it would reveal what your hearts desire is, what you are truly passionate for.

In Psalms 27, a Psalm of David, it was written during a time of trouble, David overwhelmed by his many enemies, while at the same time maintaining a confidence and security in the Lord. In David’s time of trouble he writes this Psalm. We are not sure what difficulty David was facing as he was writing this Psalm, was he on the run from Saul, or maybe it was when he left due to the rebellion of his son Absalom, or maybe something else. But it is in this trying and difficult time that David reveals his heart, he reveals the one thing he would ask and here it is,

Psalm 27:4–6 (ESV)

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 inquire 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 me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Una cosa he pedido al Señor, y esa buscaré: que habite yo en la casa del Señor todos los días de mi vida, para contemplar la hermosura[c] del Señor, y para meditar[d] en su templo. 5 Porque en el día de la angustia me esconderá en su tabernáculo[e]; en lo secreto de su tienda me ocultará; sobre una roca me pondrá en alto. 6 Entonces[f] será levantada mi cabeza sobre mis enemigos que me cercan; y en su tienda ofreceré sacrificios con[g] voces de júbilo; cantaré, sí, cantaré alabanzas al Señor.

Pray

David says one thing I ask, one thing I will seek after, you see David’s passion is the pursuit of the Lord. He is asking the Lord to grant him something, not only is he asking the Lord for something, he is also saying that the patterns of his life will seek the very thing he asks for. Look at David’s words in this Psalm; to know God and pursue his presence which is to pursue the beauty of God. Look what he says in this Psalm,

Psalm 27:8 (ESV)

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

Cuando dijiste: Buscad mi rostro, mi corazón te respondió: Tu rostro, Señor, buscaré.

Psalm 27:11 (ESV)

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Señor, enséñame tu camino, y guíame por senda llana por causa de mis enemigos

Psalm 27:13 (ESV)

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

Hubiera yo desmayado, si no hubiera creído que había de ver la bondad del Señor en la tierra de los vivientes.

David wants to know God, that is why he is seeking his face, the Hebrew word for face is the same word for presence, what David is seeking is to be in the presence of God, to have a relationship with God in such a way that it is like you are speaking to him face to face. David is seeking to know His ways, and then he says I believe I will look upon the goodness of God in the land of the living. David is trusting the Lord that the Lord will answer his prayers and he will not have to wait until he is dead to experince the goodness of the Lord. What does he say in Psalms 23?

Psalm 23:6 (ESV)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ciertamente[h] el bien y la misericordia me seguirán todos los días de mi vida, y en la casa del Señor moraré[i] por largos días.

David is saying goodness of God will be with me as I live on this earth and when I die and I am with the Lord for forever I will dwell with Him forever. The house of the Lord in Psalms 23, David is referring to being with the Lord forever in death and David will be with the good and merciful God for forever.

In Psalms 27, David says one thing I ask, one thing I will pursue with my life is

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life

que habite yo en la casa del Señor todos los días de mi vida,

In Psalms 23 David is referring to being with God in his house forever in death. But here in Psalms 27 David is referring to being in the house of the Lord all the days in his life, David here is referring to while he is alive. We have to ask what does David mean by house of the Lord? What symbolized the house of the Lord to Israel in the time of David? It was the Tabernacle, when you read the book of Exodus, there are amazing moments in the book of Exodus, when God speaks to Moses in the burning bush, when God sends the 10 plagues to deliver the people from Egypt, how about the Red Sea, I love the image from the prince of Egypt, when they are crossing the Red Sea and there are walls of water and you can see the fish swimming, how about the mountain top experince, the thunder and lightning, the Lord giving the commandments. All of those are amazing moments in the book of Exodus, but the pinnacle of the book of Exodus are not those moments, do you know what the pinnacle of the book of Exodus is?

Exodus 25:8 (ESV)

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

Y que hagan un santuario para mí, para que yo habite entre ellos.

The Lord dwelling in the midst of the people is the pinnacle of the Exodus, the Lord instructs the people to build a tabernacle so that the Lord will be in their midst. In the tabernacle you find God’s presence dwelling with the people. The Lord who redeems his people, The Lord who requires obedience from his people, is the same Lord who resides with his people in the tabernacle. This is why David wants to dwell in God’s house because the presence of God is there. God has an obsession to dwell with his people that God himself became flesh

John 1:14 (ESV)

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

14 Y el Verbo se hizo carne, y habitó entre nosotros, y vimos su gloria, gloria como del unigénito[a] del Padre, lleno de gracia y de verdad.

Why did the God do that? To redeem a people for himself and dwell with them.

John 14:23 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

We will come to him and make our home with him. God’s desire is to dwell with his people and David’s desire is to dwell in the presence of God. Can I ask you a question,

Where are you dwelling?

Where is your heart dwelling, are you so consumed by the troubles of this world and that is where your heart is dwelling? David was full of trouble when he was writing this but even in all the trouble, David expresses the one thing he would ask is to dwell in the house of the Lord. Maybe your heart is dwelling on the possibilities and opportunities the new year may bring, a new job, more money, more power and influence, David the king of Israel and at one time King David would be one of the most influential and powerful political leaders of his time, but he said the one thing I seek is to be in the presence of God. Where are you dwelling today and if it is not in the house of the Lord pursuing the Lord, why not?

David is pursuing to dwell in the house of the Lord because he wants to

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

para contemplar la hermosura del Señor

The word for beauty here means to have pleasure in the very perception of the beautiful thing you are looking at, perception just means awareness, when you are driving down the highway and you perceive there is a cop what do you do? Slow down. Perception is awareness. But when you perceive something beautiful, like a sunset over a beach, or a glacier in Alaska, or the Ozarks in the fall with all the leaves changing color, the very beauty of what you are looking at brings you pleasure, you rejoice at the beauty of what you are seeing. This is what David is saying that to see God, to see him, experince him, and to know him and who he is, the beauty of the Lord is pleasurable, His beauty should bring you pleasure. If you do not find pleasure in who God is and if his beauty is not pleasurable, if when you think about God read about God, and he doesn’t bring you pleasure then you have not really perceived the Lord for who he really is. To find God beautiful means he brings you pleasure when you think of him.

David wants to go to the tabernacle and see the beauty of the Lord, what is he going to think about that is in the tabernacle that David will find beautiful? The Table of the bread of presence, where fresh loaves of bread was placed there weekly and the old bread was removed. The bread of presence would bring to memory the manna the Lord provided for Israel in the wilderness. This would remind David that the Lord is beautiful because he is our provider and sustainer, he is the one that cares and loves us enough to provide for our needs and sustain us.

David sees the beauty of the Lord because he has provided His written word. In the tabernacle the ark of the covenant was there which housed the 10 commandments, which is a symbol that the Lord has spoken and has revealed to his people who he is and what he requires. David sees the beauty in the written Word of the Lord because it is through his Word we discover who he is and what he has done, it is through his word we can see his beauty and find him pleasurable as he works in our lives.

We also have the altar of atonement in the tabernacle court, it was the first piece the worshipper would see when entering the court. This bloody altar was pointing to the fact that their cannot be true worship without atonement, sacrifice and blood. This altar was given by the Lord

Leviticus 17:11 (ESV)

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

Porque la vida[a] de la carne está en la sangre, y yo os la he dado sobre el altar para hacer expiación por vuestras almas; porque es la sangre, por razón de la vida[b], la que hace expiación

Davids guilt taken away by substitution and the shedding of blood. Can you see the Lord quoting Lev 17:11 to us to day saying “I have given for you my Only Son that makes atonement for your life”.

What are you gazing upon?

When David says gaze, he is talking about seeing something to examine it and view the thing you are gazing at with a sense of awe that it changes you because you are gazing at it. What has the attention of your gaze? What do you find beautiful? What are you finding pleasurable? Is it the Lord? Do you see the beauty of the Lord and does it bring you pleasure when you think about him? Do you find beauty in the way the Lord provides for you and sustains you, do find beauty in God’s word as you read and gaze upon it, do you find beauty in the sacrifice of Jesus who is the substitute for us? Does the salvation provided for you bring you pleasure?

When you find something beautiful you can see the magnificence of it, and the beauty of it is attractive and it brings you pleasure. When you gaze upon the Lord, do you see the magnificence of who he is and what he has done, does he attract you, does he bring you pleasure?

Psalm 16:11 (ESV)

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Me darás a conocer la senda de la vida; en tu presencia hay plenitud de gozo; en tu diestra, deleites para siempre.

When you experince the salvation of the Lord, when you know him, it should bring you fullness of joy, knowing God should bring satisfaction and fulfillment in such a way that the one thing you need is Him to gaze upon his beauty because they provide pleasures forever.

David moves on and says,

to inquire in his temple.

y para meditar[d] en su templo.

David wanted to do God’s will, he would seek it at the tabernacle. Because he gazed on the beauty of God, he wanted to please him, he wanted to live according to the law of the Lord. His desire was to seek out what pleases the Lord because the beauty of Lord brought him so much pleasure and joy that in turn he wanted to please God. When we find the Lord beautiful and find our pleasure and satisfaction in the Lord, our desire is to please him. This is what Jesus means when he says this,

John 14:15 (ESV)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

15 Si me amáis, guardaréis mis mandamientos.

If you love me, if you find me beautiful, if you find me pleasurable then you will keep my commandments, you will seek out and pattern your life to please God.

What are you seeking out?

Are you seeking to please God with your life? Are you in God’s word to discover how you can live your life to please him. When we are pursuing God’s presence, when we gaze upon his beauty, when we seek out to follow his ways, do you know what happens?

Look at what Paul says,

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

18 Pero nosotros todos, con el rostro descubierto, contemplando como en un espejo la gloria del Señor, estamos siendo transformados en la misma imagen de gloria en gloria, como por el Señor, el Espíritu.

We are transformed into the same image, we are transformed into the image of Jesus. We become more and more like Jesus. When we pursue God’s presence, and gaze upon his beauty, and seek to live for him, you know what else happens? The troubles of life seem to fade, its not that they are not there, but we have someone who is greater than our trouble, someone who is greater than this life, all other pleasures become secondary because the Lord has become primary and even in our trouble we will discover the beauty of the Lord

Psalm 27:5–6 (ESV)

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.

5 Porque en el día de la angustia me esconderá en su tabernáculo[e]; en lo secreto de su tienda me ocultará; sobre una roca me pondrá en alto. 6 Entonces[f] será levantada mi cabeza sobre mis enemigos que me cercan; y en su tienda ofreceré sacrificios con[g] voces de júbilo; cantaré, sí, cantaré alabanzas al Señor.

You will discover that Lord will protect you, sustain you and bring you through the difficult times and you will find him more beautiful, more pleasurable and it will drive you to worship him because in him there is fullness of joy.