rdOne 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 27:4
What a verse. “One thing”, the Psalm says, “have I asked the Lord”. Just think in your life, if you could only ask for one thing from God, would this be the one thing you ask for? This is such a penetrating question to consider. The one thing that David says, I’m going to seek after this one thing, this is the one thing I want more than anything else, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon his beauty and inquire in his temple.
Psalm 27:4 explains the one thing that matters most in life.
In other words, the one thing I want more than anything else is to see God, to be with God, to speak with God, to commune with God.
And when you think about it, this makes sense of the whole Bible. What made Genesis 1–2 two so beautiful was the fact that Adam and Eve had unhindered, perfect communion with God, seeing God, walking with God, enjoying God, and then you jump to the end of the Bible, Revelation 21–22. That’s the picture, the dwelling of God with man, that communion restored. Revelation 22, “They will see his face behold him in all of his beauty and all of his glory”.
This is the whole aim. The whole goal of the Bible, of mankind, is to be with God. So, is this your one desire today? More than you want anything else is your one thing that you are asking of God, the one thing you’re seeking after, just to see him and be with him and walk with him and enjoy him and behold him and speak with him and hear from him.
Psalm 27:4 teaches us to make communion with God our greatest pursuit.
Is God the one goal of your life? And I want to lead us to pray that God would deliver us from all lesser goals, that God would transform us so that this one thing would be each of our one thing, because it is in this one thing, beholding God, dwelling with God, walking with God, communing with God that every other good thing flows.
Oh God, we praise you as the supremely glorious, infinitely beautiful, all-satisfying Source of all that is good. This is who you are. Oh God, we pray that you would transform our minds and our hearts to see how glorious you are, so that this might be the one thing on our hearts and our minds on a daily basis. The one thing we are seeking after more than anything and everything else put together, more than anyone or everyone else put together.
God, we pray that Psalm 27:4 would be the cry of our hearts, the authentic cry of our hearts. Please make it the authentic cry of our hearts. One thing we’re asking from you. One thing we’re seeking after. We just want to dwell with you, walk with you, gaze upon you in all your beauty, inquire in your temple, talk with you, cry out to you. You hearing from us, you speaking to us.
This verse pictures a heart captivated by the glory of God.
God, we pray for each of our lives that this would be the one thing we’re seeking after, because we know it is the one thing we most need. We want it to be the one thing we most desire, and the reason sometimes it’s not has nothing to do with who you are. It has everything to do with our sinfulness, our satisfaction with lesser things that cannot compare with this one thing.
Oh God, I just pray in my own life, and I pray this over every single person who’s listening to this right now. We’re praying together. Please make Psalm 27:4, the cry of our hearts in such a way that we experience the wonder and the joy and the peace and the strength and everything that comes from walking with you, seeking after you beholding you, speaking with you, communing with you on a daily basis.
We pray for that all day long. As we wait for the day in Revelation 21–22 will be a reality, and our goal in life will be complete. We will see your face and dwell in your house forever. Oh, Jesus, thank you for making this possible for us through your death on the cross. We pray you would help us not even just to live for this in our own lives, but help us to lead others to live for this.
Help us to lead others to relationship with you around us today, around the world. God, we pray for people who can’t experience communion with you like this because they’ve never heard the gospel.
Prayer for the Dhingar Gadaria People
Lord, we pray for the Dhingar Gadaria people of India. God, for almost a million and a half of them who have little to no knowledge of the gospel right now.
Lo, we pray for the Dhingar Gadaria people to be reached with the good news of your grace and your love and your mercy, that they might behold you in all of your glory and dwell in your house forever. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel among all the nations. That all the nations might enjoy, glorify, and commune with you forever. Oh God, we pray all this according to your Word in Psalm 27:4, which we love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
