“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?…
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.”
Psalm 27:1,and 4
Think a minute about what David is saying here. First, it is freeing to know that we can be completely honest with our Father when being honest is hard. Second, as weak as we know ourselves to be, He knows we’re much weaker…and that is a good thing…because as beloved as we believe ourselves to be, He declares us much more beloved. Truly, 0ur Father is our salvation, our stronghold, our safe harbor, and our sanctuary. We don’t have to fear anything or anyone, anytime anywhere.
Interestingly enough, our fears don’t look like David’s— “evil doers coming to devour my flesh,” (vs. 2) or armies of Philistines waging war against us. Rather, we fear things we can’t control: Like surgery on ourselves or a loved one, transitions in our workplace, looming decisions, grief over the loss of a loved one, vulnerable children, aging parents, financial stressors, marital messes, a world in crisis and political madness…or so it seems to us on any given day.
David reminds us that we ought to be glad that God is our God and that Yahweh (The LORD) is always with us. It should help to know that He is God and we are not. Foolishly, we think we’d like our Father’s sovereignty for 15 minutes. And then, what would we do with it? Instead, we have something better more useful…we have Him within us not making us sovereign but enabling us to overcome any opposition physical, emotional or spiritual in His time and in His way. 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.”
David speaks of how important to our assurance ( read: lack of fear) it is to gaze upon the beauty (glory) of the LORD and to be in His temple with His people. It is looking to Jesus that we can know victory is at hand. “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:1-3) Here is our Immanuel who dwelt among us, who dwells within us through the Holy Spirit and who is coming again in the flesh and we will see Him face to face. This is the One we are to gaze upon… to look to and to inquire of… from His temple. This is where NO FEAR lives!
So today, pray to the LORD to enable you to choose to set your gaze on Him. The clearer we see Him, and the more we see of Him, the more our fears shrink to their proper size. Pray that He will enable you to trust what we SEE with the eyes of faith so that we can worship Him and glorify Him today.
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
