"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." (Ps 27:1-6)

One thing. Having declared that the LORD (Yahweh) is his light and salvation, David responds with the one thing he knows he wants - to dwell in the house of the LORD, that he might gaze upon His beauty and to meditate in His temple.

As we saw earlier (part 1,) the passion to be in intimate relationship with God gave David the conviction that he, in God, could face any obstacle and not fear! He goes on with more reasons why he feels this way:

 "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..”

David knew God would hide him, conceal him and lift him high upon a rock! (Ps 40) And this, along with his knowledge of God, gave him confidence over fear. He had experienced God’s protection and care so much in the past that he could declare he would not live in fear! He took God at his word - and so can we.

Our fears are always pointing to a hopeless or disappointing future, but with God we can replace our fears with the reality of His presence, the promises of God’s protection, stability, peace and love - things He gives us when we dwell in His presence.  

"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.”

This is amazing. Not only is he saying he will fear nothing but that his head will be lifted above his enemies and he will offer worship to the Lord, making sacrifices of praise, joy and worship. He is saying nothing will stop his worship of the Lord - not his enemies, his circumstances, or anything else. Nothing! 

Is this our experience today? Do we let nothing stop our worship of the Lord, whether in our intimate “spirit and truth” times or worship (John 4:23) or our acts of “spiritual service?” (Rom 12:1)

We should strive to set the bar this high for our good and God’s glory!

Oh, but we let so many things interfere don’t we?

We get distracted or tempted and stop living a life of worship. I need not go into detail here. But let’s always remember the action we must take when we realize we’ve sinned. We must to go back into God’s presence in repentance and confession, asking Him to restore our fellowship with Him and to be filled again with His Spirit. (Ps 51, Eph5:18) 

It gets back to the ONE THING. Living fearless lives is only possible as we make living in His presence our one thing, letting nothing else interfere. I think David learned this the hard way too - just like me and you. When we don’t make living in God’s presence - in His Spirit, our primary focus, we miss a multitude of blessings He has for us and those around us miss that chance to see Christ in us.

How different the world would be if we walked as men and women of God’s peace (Phil 4:7) rather than of anxiety, fear and worry.

Holy Spirit, revive your people to pursue this ONE THING.
Let us declare against our fears, "The Lord is my light and my salvation." Amen

Tags:worship, anxiety, prayer, fear, peace

Fear, anxiety, worry. No one is exempt from these feelings. We have all learned to deal with our fears in various ways; some healthy, some not so healthy. And the Biblical characters are no different. One reason I love reading the Bible is that it doesn’t sugar coat life. It shows people’s failures and successes. It shows us how to deal with reality and learn to overcome. When it comes to fear, Davids’ psalms give us great insight into what he learned about fear and overcoming obstacles.

David dealt with fear and anxiety-inducing circumstances from early life. Whether it was wrestling a sheep-hungry bear or lion as a teenager, and later fighting Israel’s Goliaths (enemies) on the battle field, or facing enemies within his own family, somehow he learned to not to let fear stop his obedience to God. How did he do it? What did he learn?

How different would our lives be if we could overcome the paralyzing effect of fear and anxiety?

First off, I think its important to realize it’s the decisions in small circumstances that enable us to face the big ones. It’s the day to day habits that give us strength to overcome big “once in a lifetime” obstacles. David could face Goliath because he faced the Bear. He could face Saul in a God-honoring way and not let fear or anger drive his actions. He could fearlessly face armies of thousands because he learned earlier how to face smaller fears. His response to obstacles was “Teach me your way, O Lord and lead me on a level path, because of my enemies.” Ps27:11 He had the heart of a learner.

Psalm 27 gives us some incredible lessons David learned about fear. I encourage you to meditate on this passage. Here are some brief insights I've gleaned. These truths are transforming my life!

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?

Observation: Overcoming fear begins with a relationship with Jesus! He is greater and willing to confront our fears with us.

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Observation: David remembers previous victories he’s had over adversaries in the Lord’s name.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

Observation: Dave declares by faith the future victory but he knows it gets down to one thing.

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.

Observation: There it is. Its the one thing - the one focus he’s made his life’s passion - to dwell in God’s presence, to behold His person, His beauty, and to inquire or meditate on Him. Amidst all of the possible requests and priorities of life he singles out this one pursuit.  Notice too that this is a daily pursuit. He knows that he needs this daily posture if he’s to live a life overcoming fear and anxiety and any other obstacles he faces.

Do you see some keys here for your life? I sure do!

Some application and questions for us:

To “dwell” literally means to “sit” It’s not enough to just “pass through” God’s presence. We seek a quick fix in most other areas of life, but knowing God doesn't work this way, especially in regard to fear and anxiety (see) Ps46)

• Do I value living in God’s presence? Do I sit still before Him daily? Even when my life is very busy, how can I make space for this?

• Do I know the Lord personally in such a way that I see His beauty. Are you growing in that knowledge?
• Do I let other things dominate my attention when I’m praying? One teacher said we should always “gaze” at the Lord and just “glance” at our requests or problems before Him. He wants us to bring our requests but to let our hearts be fixed on Him. (Heb 12)

• Is the primary purpose of my life to know Him? 
• How does this show up in my life?
• How can I change my priorities and schedule to make time for Him?
  

Tags:prayer, worship, meditation, fear, anxiety