“One thing I have asked of the LORD, and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD [in His presence] all the days of my life, To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.”
PSALM 27:4 AMP https://www.bible.com/bible/1588/psa.27.4.amp
King David was a man of many presents.
His life was filled with riches and honor, but notice the desire of his heart.
“One thing I ask, and one thing I seek…..
that I may dwell in His Presence.”
So, often we get that backwards.
We seek to dwell among the “presents” God gives and forsake His Presence as if it’s second fiddle to the things we think bring us joy.
In reality, the opposite is true.
I can testify to the Joy of His Presence and the terror of a life lived without it.
Through this last battle, I realized something, without the awareness of His Presence,
the very thought of being separated from the Love that I was created and designed for,
nothing else here, or anywhere else in this world matters.
Notice David said he wanted to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of his life.
We were created eternal.
Eternity is awaiting every person on this earth.
The decision of where, and with whom we will spend eternity is up to us.
Jesus paid our way to the Father’s Presence.
For God SO loved the world. That leaves no one out. Not one person is exempt from God’s Love.
But we, like David have to choose His Presence as the central part of our identity, not just a by product.
Jesus said,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
and in another place,
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26
We have to get our priorities in line.
Is it presents, then Presence?
or
Presence, then presents?
Jesus told his disciples not to fear, he even called them “little flock” because he encouraged that it was His Father’s good will to give them the Kingdom.
When we look to “presents” to bring joy, it uncovers the fear in our hearts that our Father doesn’t love us like He says.
David got off track once, and looked to gain “presents” on His own through the incident with Bathsheba.
Look what God said to David through the prophet Nathan;
| And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; |
| 8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. |
| 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. |
And if that had been too little…..
When we get our eyes off of Jesus and onto things, it distorts our priorities and our joy starts to deplete.
We start believing the lie that if we just had those things, we would be happy.
Happiness and Joy are two different things.
Happiness is fleeting.
While watching Christopher Robin with the kids last night, a red balloon would make Pooh
“happy”
But what he really wanted was the relationship he had with Christopher Robin restored.
Things that we think would make us happy are often just a cover up for the underlying desire of our heart.
We long to be Loved. And no one can love us like God does.
When our relationship with our Father is right, when we seek first His righteousness,
we have Joy.
It’s a unlimited tap into the reservoirs of our Father.
We aren’t orphans on this earth trying to make it on our own…
We have a Father, and the safest, most happy place to be is in His Presence.
In His Presence there is Fulness of Joy!
ThankFully Restored 