Everyone has an ultimate desire in life. For some, it may be to make a lot of money. For a few, it may be to reach a position of power. For some others, it may be to become famous. Whatever is your aim in life, it is what drives you and controls your actions. For example, if a person’s desire is for money, every aspect of his/her life is controlled by money. The question is, what is your ultimate desire, your ultimate aim in life? Your life is moulded on the basis of that and the way you live your life while here on earth decides your eternity!
David had one desire in life, about which we read in Psalm 27:4. He says, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I 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 inquire in His temple.” He wanted to see God and hear God! What a worthy desire! Remember that, in David’s time, the way to the presence of the Lord in the Holy of holies was not open to anyone other than the high priest, that too only once a year, with the blood he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance (Hebrews 9:7). Are we not even more privileged than David, in that we can enter into His presence any time, and stay there for any length of time? How much of that privilege are we using?
David describes the blessedness of dwelling in the courts of the Lord in Psalm 65:4, “Blessed is the man You choose and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.” Are you enthralled by His beauty, when you read the pages of the Bible? We spend a lot of time talking to Him; but how much time do we spend to listen to Him? He reveals His will to those who expectantly and eagerly wait to hear Him. God’s friendship is with such people. In Genesis 18:17, God says: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” Why? Because Abraham was a friend of God! What a privilege, that each one of us could be a friend of God Almighty! He wants to share His heart with you! He is waiting to be your friend! Will you keep Him waiting? It is this fellowship and friendship that was lost in the garden of Eden, and regained in Christ. It is for such a relationship that God allowed His one and only Son to die!
Sons of Korah too considered dwelling in the house of the Lord, very precious. They say in Psalm 84:10, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” How much time do we spend in the presence of the Lord in personal worship, prayer and reading His Word?
Paul’s one desire was to be pleasing to God in everything that he did. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” It did not matter what happened to him, whether he is present in the body, or absent from the body (dead or alive)! He gives the reason for this, in the next verse. “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” As we read in Hebrews 9:28, Christ is coming for those who eagerly wait for Him, not for those who wait for Him grudgingly.
The first and great commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.” Do you have that kind of a love relationship with God? Is He the lover of your soul? Do you yearn for His presence like the Shulamite in “The Song of Solomon”? Like her, do you seek Him on your bed by the night?
Lily Abraham
Share this Post