This Week's Focus Passage

This Week’s Focus Passage: Psalm 27:4 ‘That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my l

This Week’s Focus Passage: Psalm 27:4

‘That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life.’

    This is David’s very strong desire, even according to his words in the previous line, where he has stated it clearly, as the One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after. This twenty-seventh psalm has for its inspired superscription, yet another occasion of the most frequent superscription to be found in the Psalms, namely, A Psalm of David, and it is, indeed, a very personalized psalm, with the sweet psalmist of Israel, making many poignant asseverations about Jehovah, and asking sincere questions of Jehovah. He asserts that, Jehovah is my light and my salvation, following with the inquiry therefore, Whom shall I fear? He follows with still another marvelous statement of his faith, saying, Jehovah is the strength of my life, countered with yet an additional question, when he asks, Of whom shall I be afraid? He then offers sound reasons for his faith in Jehovah, when he points out some historic examples through which this blessed faith was supported by his God, and demonstrated to our psalmist, that indeed, He was David’s light; He was David’s salvation; being the strength of his life. These activities of Jehovah greatly encouraged and enlarged the gift of faith that he had received of his God. 

    The first remembrances of Jehovah’s faithfulness to His promises toward His servant, are found in the next two verses; verse two and verse three. David claims, firstly, that: When evil-doers came upon me to eat up my flesh, Even mine adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. And, therefore, 

Though a host should encamp against me, My heart shall not fear: Though war should rise against me, Even then will I be confident.  

    This man after God’s own heart, then determines to employ that gift of faith in making known ultimate desires, that he would plead with Jehovah to grant to him, even expressing those desires in such a wonderfully somber, yet profoundly recognizable, through that gift of faith, given at regeneration to His chosen ones:

One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in his temple.

“That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life? Of what does this consist? Dwelling in the house of Jehovah? All the days of my life? To do what? Is it not to behold the beauty of Jehovah and to inquire in His temple? You never really expected that we would simply be sitting on a cloud with a harp in our hand, as many over the years have imagined, and many have depicted very often, in drawings of all sorts, even in cartoons. Truly, such demonstrations as these are incredibly foolish cartoons from exceptionally ignorant folk, containing no semblance of reality in them, whatever their imaginations may have contrived. 

The facts are clear from the pen of this prophet, David [Acts 2:29-30], as he penned this 27th psalm, that God had determined, from of old, that His chosen people would dwell with Him, and that forever. Let us, then, desire fervently, and seek after, assiduously, its fulfillment by grace, even as the ‘man after God’s own heart has testified here in this beautiful psalm. The first thing mentioned by this sweet psalmist is, that, in dwelling in the house of Jehovah all the days of his life, he will behold the beauty of Jehovah. Mark well, that ‘all the days of his life,’ of which he speaks in this place, are all the days of eternity. He has asked of Jehovah, that he may, not only that he may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of his life, that is, for ever and ever. But in that timeless eternity he may behold the beauty of Jehovah; that is, to say that he may behold the beauty of Jehovah for ever and ever. Let us reflect upon the enormity of this request. It is for eternity; a term that we use, yet it is a concept, and much more than a concept for the one possessing the gift of faith, that even as that faith enables us to believe in it; we are hardly able to wrap the arms of our minds around it. Perhaps our faith enables us to wrap our hearts around it, but even wrapping our hearts around it by faith, is still short of being actually able to fully comprehend it. Is that not, very likely, to be the reason that for this largely incomprehensible grasp, it shall require an eternity of time? Yet, even as we attempt to comprehend and embrace an eternity of beholding the beauty of Jehovah, is it not extremely wonderfully glorious to know that we will be enjoying, glorying in, that infinite beauty of Jehovah? Yea, and yea again:  

One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle will he hide me; he will lift me up upon a Rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; and I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto Jehovah. Hallelujah!

In the additional phrase, and to inquire in his temple, we are given to see that Jesus will continue, as our Prophet, to teach us; we will be forever learning from Him. What an eternity of ‘inquiries’ will be addressed to our eternal Rabbi, in his temple?

In this present day and time, we must admit the multitude of questions that come to our minds and hearts, each and every day, as we read and study the Word of God in our hands and before our eyes. We may meditate upon them; we may muse over them; we may seek counsel through commentaries and studies that have been done; and, yes, we may pray to our God that He would grant to us understanding. But if it is not His time to make such things known to us, we echo Peter’s statement about his apostolic brother Paul’s writings, 2 Peter 3:15-16; And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsteadfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. May we be content with what we are presently given, yet continuing to search the Scriptures, wherein we may see Christ, as we wait upon His return.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church

service-times-bg

Join us Sunday at 

10:30am