“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 inquire in His temple.” [Ps.27:4]
This text is an incredibly explicit description of every truly regenerated and converted child of God. The first line of verse one of this great Psalm declares: “The Lord is my light and my salvation — whom shall I fear?” When it says that the Lord is his “Light” — it points to His being the light of the truth concerning Himself unto him — personally. The Spirit of the Lord — Jesus tells us from Jn.16:13-14 — is the revealer of the truth concerning Christ unto us. He uses the Word of God as the main instrument in accomplishing this revelation. That’s why Ps.119:105 tells us that the Word becomes a lamp unto our feet — and a light unto the path of each and every one of His eternally loved and chosen ones. And, when it says that the Lord is his “Salvation”– it means that the Lord is becomes to him — his personal Savior. Obviously, if this be true — then there is no need to fear.
A large part of the Lord’s being the “Light and Salvation” of the true believing sinner is in the evidence that the regenerated sinner becomes a “seeker” after God as he passes through this world. This is a wonderful and remarkable transition. For the Word of God describes of every fallen and unregenerate sinner — that in their lost estate — without exception — “there is none that seeketh after God” [Ro.3:11]. The saved sinner has become something that he absolutely was not! He has become a seeker after God — and the things of God. God — through His incarnated eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ — has sought out from among the population of the masses of fallen and lost sinners — the sinner that He has eternally loved and chosen to be one of His eternally saved ones — and found him — and transformed him into being His loving, seeking dear child. It is a marvelous truth of God’s great grace! Hence, does verse four describe the desire of the sinner saved by grace. Ps.37:4 aptly states: “Delight thyself in the Lord — and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Ps.27:4 declares one such desire that the quickened seeking sinner seeks. And that is that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life in this fallen world. The word so used for “desire” in this verse connotes “asking”. So this becomes the substance of his continual cries unto the Lord.
The verse eight divulges the reality of the source of the searching of the true believing sinners heart and life throughout the days of his life in this world. The Word says: “When thou saidst, ‘Seek my face!’ My heart said unto thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek’.” Praise His gracious Name! And, we are assured of receiving this that we desire from God — for the scripture goes on to bear testimony from verses 13-14: “I had fainted — unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord! Be of good courage, and He will strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.”
For Christ’s Glory Only!
John Carpenter
