That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

Psalm 27:1-6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God. A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
² When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
³ Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I shall be confident.

⁴ One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
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 meditate in His temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
⁶ And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

The psalmist says:  The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?  When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.  In 2 Kings 6:15-18, we see an account that gives us understanding of the confidence of the psalmist. It says:  When the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”  So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 1 John 4:4 says:  You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.   Romans 8:31 says:  What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  The psalmist says though a host encemp against me, we have confidence knowing that one of the names of God is Jehovah Sabaoth, or Lord of the Host. God is the Lord of all of the angels of heaven. They greatly out number the demons that rise against us.We have confidence knowing that God and His army will fight for us.

The psalmist says:  One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
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 meditate in His temple.  In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus says:  “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”   Like the psalmist we should seek to dwell in the house of the Lord; to behold His beauty and His magnificence; to meditate in His temple. Even more though, through Christ, we have become the dwelling place of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we love God with our whole heart, soul and mind, we meditate in the temples of our lives.

The psalmist says:  In the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.  As when the enemies of Elisha were blinded by the Lord, He also will conceal us, hiding us in Himself. As Christ was raised from the grave, so are we raised up to live above our enemies, even above death.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, like the psalmist, I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Amen.