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. – Psalm 27:4
Have you ever come to that place where you’ve let the world wear you out? You’ve struggled against it, and you’ve struggled against God, and you’re exhausted with the heartbreak and the disappointment of trying to steer the ship against the storm without the Captain?
That’s when I came to this feeling described in Psalm 27:4, and it was, in fact, the peace that passes understanding. I was literally laying crumpled on the floor, defeated, when I thought, “But all I want is You, Lord. All I want out of all this is to be with You. I just want You.”
The words were familiar — there are songs and verses and all kinds of things that allude to that — but the voice was new. It was the voice of complete surrender. It didn’t even matter if I couldn’t do it myself. We’d passed “I can’t do this” about a dozen exits back. This time, it was, “None of this matters but You.”
We get beaten senseless by the ugliness around us. The earthly things are hard: relationships, family, finances, work. We fight and fight and fight until we’re exhausted. That’s where a lot of people give up. But there’s a difference between giving up and surrender.
Giving up means you choose to lose.
Surrender is actually to stop fighting and await further instructions.
That’s when He can take us into His inner sanctum and we can relax and let the beauty of just being with God wash over us. All the rest of these things we’ve been fighting fall away.
Yes, the world goes on around us, and we still have to answer those calls, but seeing the peace of God Himself can remind us where our priorities are. Let your only real desire be to see God, and to be with Him and serve Him, and even if the earth stuff doesn’t get easier, the weight will be lighter.
Why? Because you finally have the great comfort of knowing that this world right here is not all there is.
Seek Him in His temple. ❤️
