Seeking the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 27 and reading from
our text, verse 4. Psalm 27 and verse 4. One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27 and verse 4. I wanted this evening to highlight
one evidence of the life of God in the soul, and that is a love
to the house of God. I trust I can say that when the
Lord began with me, he gave me that love to the house of God. And I hope that it is the case
with those of you here, those of you joining with us here this
evening. With myself, it was contrasted
with a distinct lack of love for the house of God. With some,
it won't be such a contrast. Some have liked to come to the
house of God all their days, and they have not felt that real
desire to rebel, to go away, or to feel a real lack of love
for the house of God. But I do feel that without grace,
without the life of God in the soul, There's many things that
can seem to imitate that love for the house of God. We can
just come and go as a door on its hinges. We can be attending
with a desire that that is our title for heaven, as if we would
bargain with the Lord in that way. But when the Lord blesses
the soul and makes the soul needy, and brings to know that the only
way of salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him alone,
and in the Word of God, and in the house of God, where His honour
dwells. Then that will immediately change
how we view the house of God. And here with the psalmist, there
is a real desire, a desire not just for the house of God, but
a desire for worship, a desire to come before the Lord, to worship
before Him. And in this desire there are
several aspects that are set before us in this verse and in
this psalm. One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of
the Lord and to inquire in His temple. Sometimes we can have
those things that greatly hinder or will put us off from the house
of God. I've always felt it, a solemn
thing, over my many years, and not just in this country, in
Australia as well. There's been those that have
gone away from the house of God and back into the world. They
never attend a place of worship anymore. And nearly every one
of them will have some reason why. And it's never them. It's always someone else. Someone
else has done something wrong. Someone else has acted in a wrong
way. Something has put them off, and
they use that and say, that is the reason I'm never going into
a house of God again. I'm not going to join. If the
people of God are like that, if those things happen like that,
then I won't. And, you know, David had many
things that really separated him from the house of God. saw
pursuing him, the time that he was with the Philistines and
then Absalom, many times that he couldn't gather, and yet he
desired to gather. But maybe we have that desire
to gather, but there's those things to have overcome first. Often think of the case of Hannah,
and they went up regularly, yearly, to worship, at Shiloh, at the
temple. Now she had several things that
really would have been a discouragement. One thing at that time, her husband,
Elkanah, gave gifts. Gave gifts to his wives, the
two wives, Hannah, Benina, and to their children, but Hannah
did not have children. So each time she went up to the
house of God, it was an aggravation. of what she had not got, what
she wanted, what she desired. And it may be with us as well.
There's those things that we push through a pain in coming
to the house of God. It highlights what we haven't
got. We may see the Lord's people,
we may see them sit at the Lord's table and we long that we might
have that. the length of seats between where
we sit and the Lord's people sit is such a great distance
and we feel so unlike them and longing to be with them. And
though we want to come to the house of God, yet when we come,
it is a sore point because we realize and have it set before
us again that as yet we don't feel to be amongst the people
of God. We feel like Ruth, though I be
not like one of thine handmaidens. But Hannah, she still came, and
she still came up to Shiloh. The other thing that was to put
her off was that at Shiloh there was Eli's sons, and we are told
in the word of God that they were sons of Bilion. They knew not the Lord, and they
even lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle.
corruption and wickedness, they caused the Lord's people to abhor
the offerings of the Lord. Because when they came to offer,
they sought the fat, they sought the best for themselves, but
the fat was always to be for the Lord. And how would we feel,
going to the house of God, and our offerings, our gifts, instead
of given to the house of God, given to the Lord, they were
used for the embezzlement or for the good of those that were
there. Just taking of those things for
themselves. That is what Hannah had to go
up to the temple and she saw them doing. Corruption, not outside
in the world, not round about, but in the house of God. And yet she still came. And she
still came and she still prayed there. And not only did she pray,
but she had answers to prayer there as well. And the Lord used
that way to bring Samuel. And again, who would have thought
of a mother that was prepared to bring her young son into that
influence and amongst that wickedness as well? But she did. The power
of the conviction of the Lord and of the leading of the Lord.
You know, she viewed it as the Lord's house. We will not have
a perfect church on earth. You will not have a perfect Lord's
house, a local church on earth. There will always be those that
either are not the Lord's, or abuse the offerings of the Lord,
or walk in some way that is not to the honour and glory of God. But may we not let that put us
off from the house of God. Our Lord, when he was on earth,
the very leaders of his nation, the scribes, the Pharisees. They
were abusing the people. They were laying burdens on them,
grievous to be born. And he came to bear those burdens. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And take my yoke
upon you, not that yoke with the scribes and the Pharisees,
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Ye shall
find rest. unto your souls. And he comes
into the temple. What does he find? Buyers and
sellers, sellers of doves, sellers of those who offer these sacrifices,
men making the house of God a house of merchandise. He makes a whip
of small cords and he drives them out. My house is a house
of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. The Lord still
said, it is my house. is my house and the Lord dealt
with those in it. And we can be sure there will
be those things that discourage, those things that take away our
desire. In our text it speaks of desire
and speaks of a right desire, a desire for the house of God.
One psalm that speaks very clearly to this is Psalm 37 and the first
eight verses. Now read this, these eight verses.
Fret not thyself because of evildoers. What does it mean? Now verse
one, verse eight, both of them speak of fretting not. Fret means to be grieved and
be angry. And the word is, fret not thyself
because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down
like the grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the
Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily
thou shalt be fed. Now this verse, verse four, delight
thyself also in the Lord. and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall
bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently
for him, and again this is warning, fret not thyself, because of
him who prospereth in his way. Because of the man who bringeth
wicked devices to path, man or woman, whoever it is, cease from
anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Three times through that portion,
fret not, fret not, fret not. And in the middle of it, delight
thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. And our text says, one thing
have I desired 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 behold
the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. It is
good for us to look, to see no man but Jesus only, to see his
house, to see his honour, his glory, that which the Lord has
instituted, that which the Lord has established on earth for
his people. We've sung of how the Lord views
the houses of his people, those who meet morning and evening,
but then the house of God and the ordinances of the house of
God, the offices of the house of God, the people gathering
together, assembling together. Well, I want to then look here
just at two main points. Firstly, desiring and seeking. And then secondly, the three
things sought for as one. One thing have I, one thing have
I desired of the Lord that will I seek after. But firstly, the
desiring and seeking. Those two that are together. We read in the Proverbs, Proverbs
13 verse 4, The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but
the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. So there we have
desire, but we have no action that joins with it. Then we have
in Proverbs 20, And again, verse 4, in each of our texts is verse
4, and each of these is verse 4. The sluggard will not plough. Why? By reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg in harvest
and have nothing. In other words, there is discouragement. It's cold outside. He's not going
to go out and plough. And so he stays at home. And
when it comes harvest time, he's got nothing. Like we said, with
the house of God, there may be those discouragements, those
things that turn us aside. But in our text it speaks of
desiring and seeking. And it's desire of the Lord,
it is asked of the Lord, desire of the Lord, that the Lord will
do this thing. And to back up that desire, to
show the reality to it, There's a seeking after it. There's an
action to it. There's prayer. There's going
to the house of God. There is the seeking of His face,
a reading of His Word, a hearing of the preaching of the Word. There's a use in those means
of grace, and it proves that desire not just a desire, but
a real desire. The most solemn desire expressed
in the word of God is that of Balaam. He says, let me die the
death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. You say, what a wonderful desire. And it is. Many of the Lord's
dear people may have felt that, impressed upon their heart as
their real desire, And then maybe they've read the word of God,
found out who uttered it, and they thought, that can't be my
desire. Not when Balaam utters it. But
you know Balaam. Balaam uttered many wonderful
things in prophecy. And he uttered the words of the
Lord, though he did not want to himself. They were the words
of the Lord. And don't let those who misuse
the word, or those that take it out of context, or in some
way mar it, destroy that word for you. All of us will know
those who may have quoted that word, perhaps quoted a word against
us, or quoted a word and you felt has been misused, and it's
been muddied, it's marred. You resist it, you don't want
to take it because of what it is, and who's spoken it. Well, you know, Satan came to
the Lord, and he tempted the Lord. And when the Lord rebuked
Satan, it is written, then Satan comes with the word, and he uses
the word to tempt the Lord. He says, he takes him up to the
pinnacle of the temple, cast thyself down from hither, for
it is written, he shall bear thee up in his arms, he shall
give Thy angels charge over thee, lest thou dash thy foot against
a stone. And the Lord said, It is written
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Satan may quote
the Word of God, but that doesn't mar it. It doesn't take away
the preciousness of it, the loveliness of it, and just because It is
Balaam or someone else that has spoken that word, even in the
word used to write the inspired word of God. That doesn't mean
that it is not the word of God and not precious. And the thing
with Balaam was that he desired to die the death of the righteous
and want his last end like his. But he didn't desire to live
the life of the righteous. In fact, he died fighting against
the children of Israel. Solemn judgment upon him. But
if that desire is ours, looking to our end, looking to our death,
then I hope it is with us that we desire as well to live the
life of God's people, to walk where they walk, and to be where
they are and to worship where they are. Hymn writer says, numbered
with them may I be now and to eternity. And so the desiring
and the seeking, they go together to make it to be a real desire. We'll be found in the Word of
God, in the house of God, or desiring the house of God, here
below. And we'll be seeking those blessings
from the Lord now. Not just living as the world,
but hoping that in the end all will be well. We want the Lord's
grace now, and the Lord's help now, to deliver us from the power
and dominion of sin. He be pleased to bless us now
with some foretaste of that which is to come, and the blessing
of the Lord that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow within,
and to know the fellowship of his sufferings, and to be made
conformable unto his death. So desiring and seeking, we have
that here. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after. a real focus to seeking. You know, if we have just generalities
in the things of God, then we'll never be able to truly say that
we have found that which we have sought. In the Song of Solomon,
the spouse going after her beloved, she sought him, but she also
found him. And it is a fact that God's people,
in a way, will be seekers all their life. But those are blessed
times when they find Him, when the Lord finds them and blesses
them and favours them in a natural way. If we are seeking for something,
you say, what are you looking for? We're looking for a key
or looking for a piece of money. It is something that we have
an object that we're aiming for. And you wouldn't think of someone
saying, well, they just desire they might find this thing. You
say, well, you better get up and look for it then, and seek
for it. Those two things, they go together. So may that be part of this token
this evening, this one thing, this desiring of the house of
God, the temple of the Lord, and all that is here, set forth
with us. The Lord has given us this token,
this evidence of His work, to not only give a desire, but also
give us to seek that which we desire. May the Lord bear witness
with your spirit and with mine that that truly is the case. We do seek after the Lord. We
have the case of the Greeks that came to the disciples, so as
we would see Jesus. Our Lord says, to ask, and it
shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. We'll second thee, the three
things that are sought for as one. How often we have in the
Word of God those three in one things. Of course we have the
Trinity, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have in Psalm
136, which speaks of the mercies of the Lord, and those mercies
often are or could be, under one head, but they are split
into several different ones. We have in verse 5 of Psalm 136,
to him that by wisdom made the heavens, for his mercy endureth
forever. And that could say, well that
sums it all up, but then it's divided to be this, to Him that stretched out the earth
above the waters, for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that
made great lights, for His mercy endureth forever. The sun, to
rule by day, for His mercy endureth forever. The moon and stars,
to rule by night, for His mercy endureth forever. And we have
one act, the forming of the great lights, making of the heavens,
and then we have that divided into other mercies within it. We have when Egypt let go, or
when the Lord smote Egypt and brought Israel out from them. It's not only mentioned that
he brought them out, but brought them out with a strong hand.
and that he divided the Red Sea. Not only that he divided the
Red Sea, but made Israel to pass through the midst of it. Very
often we lose the tokens for good and the blessings the Lord
has given us because we put them all down to one thing and we
don't actually divide it into the many mercies that we have. Very often we can, perhaps if
we sit down at our table to eat our meals, and we give thanks
for the food, but we could give thanks that we have an appetite,
that we have the food, that it's actually been able to have the
money to buy that food, that there's been no industrial action
so that there's been food on the shelves we could get. and
that we have a house to eat it in. We're not living off the
streets, but we have a table to have it on. And we have those
to eat it with and to share it with. And there's many things
in just what can be lumped into one blessing, many blessings. And so here, though it says one
thing, have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after,
yet really there is Three things that are bound up and joined
together here as one. And so we read this, 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. There
are three things to dwell, to behold, to inquire. The first is to dwell in the
house of the Lord. Mentioned before how David had
those times that he was away from the house of God and couldn't
go there, separated, and many have known what that is. Maybe
you know this evening, joining with us online, because you're
separated from the house of God. In Psalm 84, we have, How amiable
are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts, my soul longeth. Yea,
even fainteth for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God. He says, Blessed are they
that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee,
Selah. And he's looking to those that
are in the house of God, but he is separated from it. Sometimes
we don't realise the reality of our desire or blessings until
they are taken from us. And then we do. When we have
a choice, sometimes we can abuse it. But when that is taken away,
the children of Israel, when they were in their own land,
they worshipped idols. They worshipped other gods. They
chose to. So the way the Lord dealt with
it, He took them out of their own land and put them into a
foreign land where they couldn't meet in the house of God. They
couldn't worship as they would, but were amongst the heathen
and to be compelled in some cases to worship their gods. And the Lord dealt with that,
especially in the case of the 70 years in Babylon, separated
from their land, separated from the house of God. And no doubt
there was many in that land and in that captivity that desired
the desires of the text here. We may not be separated in that
kind of way, but the Lord doing enough to make us and to show
ourselves where our real longing and desire is. Now, it's not
just to go in the house of God, it's to dwell, and we know what
a difference it is to dwell somewhere and to actually just be passing
through. In the ministry, and in my travels
for the ministry, there's many times I sleep in houses, different
beds, and I'm thankful I can. sleep in many different beds,
as it were, the travel lodges and homes of the Lord's people.
And yet I don't dwell there. I might spend the night there,
but that's not my dwelling place. And we don't want to, as it were,
come and go as a stranger or a guest, but be like a child
at home, actually dwell there. that be where we belong and where
we are found, where we are numbered and where we are known as the
people of God, the house of God, where the Lord comes, where he
dwells. That was one of the questions
to the disciples with our Lord right at the beginning of his
ministry. Where? Where dwellest And that
should be our desire. Where dwellest thou? Where is the Lord? What is the
house of God to me, unless the master there I see? Jacob, he goes from his mother
and father's house fleeing from Esau, and he lies with stones
for his pillow. And the Lord gives him the vision
of the ladder set up on earth extending into heaven than the
angels of God descending and ascending upon it. This is none
other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven. Bethel, he comes back to it,
he calls it Bethel and he wants to know the God of Bethel, the
God of the house of God. It is a solemn thing. You know,
we mentioned of Eli. When Eli's sons, according as
prophesied, were slain in battle in one day, and the ark of God
taken and taken into the land of the Philistines, then one
of those young men, his wife was with child, and she travailed,
she died, but she named the child Ichabod. the glory of the Lord
is departed from Israel. And it's a solemn thing, where
the glory of the Lord departs. His presence is no longer there. His blessing is no longer there. When it is there, we stay there. When His blessing is there, then
that is the house of God. When it is not, then it is just
a shell, a building. It is just a place that, well
sadly, in many instances they've been either left to ruin like
Providence down the road, or converted into houses. The Lord
pictures in Revelation 1 the candlesticks, the churches, the
individual churches, and He is in the midst of them, the ministers,
they are in His hand, and He directs them. And we ought to
always remember the honour and glory of the Lord's house is
that it is the Lord's house, and that He dwells there, and
that is where His people desire to dwell. And our Lord in John
17, He prays, Father, I will that they whom Thou has given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. He shall give grace and glory. and here below his earthly courts,
his footstool, where he dwells, where his church is, and the
offices of him, then that in one sense is the gate of heaven.
And one day all that have gathered worship below shall join that
innumerable throng above. These are but the Lord's courts
in a world that is under the curse, in the midst of sin, in
the midst of adversaries, and a people that are a sinful people,
not a perfect people, though they are term saints and though
they are complete in Christ, yet they are sinners gathered
together. And the desire here is that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. How much is that, our desire? We said about those that through
some reason or another have gone back and no more with the Lord,
no more in any house of God. When our Lord taught those things
that were hard to hear, this is a hard saying, who can hear
it? Many went back and walked no more with Him. And he said
to the disciples, Will ye also go away? And Peter answered for
them, he said, To whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. There is no other way of salvation. There is no other plan. There
is no other church. There is no other arrangement.
This is the way of salvation. And maybe with us we've been
so tried, tempted, fearful, lest we also should be turned out
of the way, be offended, that we also should follow those that
no more are found there. Did the psalmist feel that? Was
he tempted to that? We don't know, but we do know
this. that his desire was, and what
he sought after, was that he might dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life. And may that be our desire and
our seeking of the Lord, and may that token be ours as well. But there's a second aspect to
this then. In the house of God, not just
dwelling there, but to behold, to behold the beauty of the Lord. Of course, in David's day, he
had the tabernacle that was raised in the wilderness. He never lived
to see the temple, Solomon's temple, but he saw the tabernacle
and he saw the ark or knew where the ark was. The ark would have
been covered with the veil. and he would have seen the types,
the shadows, that which pointed to our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. The outer cord, the inner cord,
the Holy of Holies, all pointing to the Lord. The offerings of
the Lord, the burnt offering, setting forth the sacrifice of
the Lord, the washing in the laver, sanctifying work of the
Lord, the glory, the beauty of the Lord in his tabernacle. The beauty of the Lord, the attractiveness
will only be to a sinner. One of our hymns is, Sinners
can say, and none but they, our precious is the Saviour. In the
word we read unto you which believe, he is precious. For those that
are uncalled, he is a root out of dry ground. There is no form
nor comeliness that they should desire him. There are many that
were offended in Christ's day, offended because he was Jesus
of Nazareth, the carpenter's son. They're offended at his
company. This man receiveth sinners and
eateth and drinketh with them. And those were the things that
put them off. They couldn't see the God shining
gracious through the man. I often think with the Ark in
the Old Testament, when it was carried from place to place,
when the temple was, or the tabernacle was taken down, they had to take
down the veil and drape it over the Ark. If you see picture books
with the Ark in full view, on the shoulders of the priests,
the Levites, it would never have been like that. It was always
covered. And all you would see was the
badger skins, all you would see was the veil, the covering. But
if you lifted that veil, then you would see the gold, then
you would see the ark. And yet, when it was moving,
of all times you would see more than anything else that was there.
If there was a sheet in front of this pulpit, there wouldn't
be any significant or anything to indicate that there was a
pulpit behind it, or microphone or Bible or anything on it, if
it was just vertical in front like the veil was in front of
the Ark. But if you were to drape that
same sheet over the pulpit, you'd immediately see the shape of
the microphone, the shape of the Bible, shape of the pulpit,
and though you didn't actually see it, you'd know the evidence
that it was there. And when the children of Israel
moved, then they always were able to see there really was
an ark, there really was something there. The shapes of the cherubim,
the size of the ark, they would have seen all of that. are brought
to heaven, then we'll see Christ, not through a glass dark way,
but we'll know even as we are known. But here below, he is
veiled, and yet unveiled through the Word of God. We see much
more clearly than these Old Testament saints did. But it is that beauty
of the Lord. When our Lord was in the boat,
And the disciples said, awoke him, saying, Master, we perish
as the waves came in on the boat. We see him as a man, as it were,
asleep in the hinder part of the ship. Then we see him rise
and rebuke the winds and the waves, and there's a great calm.
And they were amazed, saying, what man is this, that even the
winds and the waves obey him? The God, says the hymn writer,
shines gracious through the man. And it is to see that beauty,
to see his glory, to see that blessing that rests upon our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to see what the world despises,
to see what men think nothing worth, but to prize him as the
pearl of great price, the altogether lovely, the precious one, the
one in whom our soul relies upon to bring us safely to heaven,
the one who bore our sins in his body on the tree. It is to
behold that beauty, the beauty of the Lord, and to delight in
him, the angel of the new covenant, new testament, our Lord and saviour,
Jesus Christ. You think of his triumphant coming
into Jerusalem and how they cried Hosanna to him that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Those who have sprung forth like
Hannah after he heard her prayer and you see in the second chapter
of 1 Samuel how that she so blesses and praises the Lord. She doesn't
even mention Samuel through that gift, through that was her God, her God who answered
her prayer, her salvation. And she gloried in him, worshipped
him and blessed him. And may we be like those on the
Mount of Transfiguration. They saw no man, but Jesus only. And that glory, the glory of
the Lord's house here will be the glory of Emmanuel's land.
Christ, all the glory there. And then we have thirdly, their
desire and seeking after to inquire in his temple. How often it was
so with David, when he wanted to know the Lord's will, when
he wanted to know direction and guidance, he always sought for
the Lord. Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do? We think of Psalm 73. How the
psalmist, his steps had well nigh gone, he was envious at
the wicked. We spoke of the fretting, and
the psalmist was like that. But when he came into the house
of God, into the sanctuary, then understood I their end. How the Lord has set them in
slippery places. And so it is to inquire in the
house of God, How many times have we come into the house of
God? Lord, do direct me, do instruct me through thy word, do teach
me the way that I should go. Show me thyself, show me thy
way. And there's that inquiring of
the Lord. We think of the case of Isaac's
Rebecca, when she had Jacob and he saw in the womb And the twins,
of course, no scans in those days, they strove together in
the womb. And we read, she said, if it
be so, why am I thus? If I am bearing the promised
seed, if this blessing is truly of the Lord, why is all this
commotion within? And we read, simply she went
and inquired of the Lord. And the Lord told her about those
Two nations in the womb. One shall serve the other. The
elder shall serve the younger. And really in every child of
God, there is that conflict. There is those things that vie
with each other within. The old man of sin, the new man
of grace. There are those things that only
the Lord can interpret and tell and show us our case. and show
really his own work and what he has done for us. And I pray
that it might be so in the word before us this evening that this
is what the Lord will do this evening and show one of his dear
people what he has done for them and where their heart is and
that they have this desire and these seekings and it is in these
ways that they might dwell in the house of the Lord all the
days of their lives and to behold the beauty of the Lord and to
inquire in his temple. Dear soul, does that describe
you? Is that what the Lord has done
for you and given you that desire and that longing and that seeking? Then may you truly know this
is a desire that David The man after God's own heart desires
here in the inspired word of God, and it is one thing that
Satan will never work in the heart, the world will never work
in the heart, man will not work in the heart. Thou only has wrought
all our works in us. May you, may I, be able to see
the Lord's work and be able to say this is the Lord's doing
and it is marvellous in our eyes. Why me? Why was I made to hear
thy voice and enter while there's room while millions would rather
starve than enter in? Well may the Lord bless this
word, make it ours. One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.