Dwelling in the house of the Lord

Daily Readings: Exodus 27-28, Psalm 27

One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:4-5

How much simpler would life be if our main focus, our most sincere desire, the center of our prayers, was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives?

There are many points throughout the day where this is the case for me. In these stretches of time, where I allow God to be fully present in me while I am engaging in the activities of that day, there is so much joy and peace. I feel like David and the greatest desire of my heart is “to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple”.

A funny thing happens along the way on these days, when my focus is on walking with God; most of the other prayers I would naturally pray for myself seem to fall into place as well.

And yet on the days where my prayers are more focused on, “Lord, help me with this problem. Give me answers to these questions. Take this cup from me. I need…” I find myself quickly allowing those items to consume my thoughts and I drift rapidly away from “dwelling in the house of the Lord”.

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus told us, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

I think he may have meant it!

So today, seek ye first the kingdom of God! Your heavenly father, the maker of the universe, who wants to spend time with his children like every good father, cannot wait to answer that request!

Thought to ponder

Today, how can I keep my focus on dwelling in the house of the Lord while going through my normal day to day?

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