Seek

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. The scripture reading for today comes from Psalm chapter 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother hath forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the LORD. This is the word of the LORD. We are capping off the series, Wonder, and I'm hoping you gained a little of what, I mean, I really grew through this myself. Now, that happens often, and Vicki probably knows this, when you teach something, you learn even more, right? Just try to teach something to others, and you learn even more yourself than they do. And that's been the case, and I'm hoping you've gained, well, a sense of wonder from this and an amazement at your God who chooses and deigns to come to you, to approach you, to call you into relationship with Himself. We see this wonder, I think, in this Psalm 27, specifically where David cries out and says something that is actually very profound. It's the only place in all the Psalms and much of the Old Testament where there's this singular focus, this just one thing, just one thing he asks for, that only will he seek, he says. 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. Hmm. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. You know, I grew up in a Christian household, went to worship every Sunday, and I don't know if I ever really thought about God being beautiful. Have you? The beauty of the Lord. You might say, Well, we don't even know what He looks like. Well, because God has never been seen directly by anyone, there's no photo of Him, no painting, no detailed description. So often, I guess, beauty in our society is seen as if it were something we see visibly with our material eyes, right? It's just, Oh, that's a beautiful sunset, we might say. Or at least some sense, like, That's beautiful music. You've probably said that before. Or somebody has a beautiful voice, or that meal was just beautiful. And you're talking about the whole experience. The whole thing is just being wonderful. Psalm 27 does not claim that David is seeing God directly, but he still seeks, as he says, his face at the tabernacle or temple. So what does he mean that he is seeking and the one thing he wants is the beauty of the Lord? We're going to look at that. I think it's very important. We're going to look and ask these three questions today. Why do we need God's beauty? What is the beauty of the Lord and how does God's beauty actually change us? Now, why do we need it? David is not chasing information. He knows enough stuff. I think too many people think church or Bible study is just a chance to download some information. You know, if I get enough facts, if I understand enough things, then everything's okay. But he's not looking for usefulness. Beauty is not about usefulness. Have you ever thought about that? It's not about, you don't need it. It's not about a transaction. It's not about a technique. So the question is why? Why does David say this is the only thing that he wants? The only thing. And why is he asking that? When if you read the whole Psalm as Dale was reading, David's in the midst of his enemies. He's facing danger on every side. So why is he asking for the beauty of the Lord? And he would say, that's precisely why I'm asking, to see God's beauty. Psalm 27 is brutally honest about our lives. It can b...