David was a man who seemed to have "one thing" on his mind. He seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe this desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord; to inquire in his temple; and this desire spoken in these ways is centered in one thing, the main thing: to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, the incomparable, transcendent, all satisfying, awe-inspiring beauty of God.
David's resolution reminds me of a scene in the 1991 movie City Slickers. Mitch, played by Billy Crystal and his two friends from New York City are middle-aged, middle-class guys trying to rediscover the purpose of their mundane lives. Curley, played by Jack Palance, is a tough-as-leather trail boss who is not particularly reflective or philosophical. In one scene, Curley, the old crusty cow boy, is talking with the city folk about life. They are confused and have made a mess of their lives. They ask Curley for some advice on life. Curley: “You city folks. -- You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in your rope and you think two weeks here will work them all out. You just don't get it.” Curley holds up one dirty, black-gloved finger to them. With a squint in his weathered old face and a cigarette dangling from his lips, he says to them, "Life is about one thing." "It’s this," Palance says, holding up a single finger. "The secret of life is your finger?" asks Crystal. "It’s one thing," Palance replies. Mitch: “What thing?” Curley: “That's what you have to figure out.”
Psalm 27 is not the only place where we see David's "One thing" passion. Listen to and catch his “One thing” passion in other Psalms.
Psalm 16:2,11, "I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you....You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 42:1-2, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God."
Psalm 63:1-3, "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory…Your steadfast love is better than life.”
Psalm 84:10, For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness."
Only God would satisfy a heart like David’s and David was a man after one thing God’s heart. This is what we were created and redeemed for! This is the essence of loving God –being satisfied in him. Jonathan Edwards understood about the one thing. He once wrote: “God’s is glorified not only in His glory being seen, but by in His glory being rejoiced in.” God’s beauty is meant to satisfy the heart with joy and delight.
What happens when we desire the one thing? First, the beauty of the Lord satisfies the heart with joy and delight. Secondly, beauty transforms the soul. The encounter of the human soul with divine beauty, is more than merely enjoyable, it is profoundly transforming. There is within it the power to persuade and to convince the inquiring mind of truth. This may well be the Spirit's greatest catalyst for change. Paul alluded to this in 2 Corinthians 3:18 when he said, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The point is what we see is what we be! We do not simply behold beauty: beauty takes hold of us and challenges the allegiance of our hearts. Beauty calls us to reshape our lives and exposes the shabbiness of our conduct. It awakens us to the reality of a transcendent Being to whose likeness of beauty we are being called and conformed by his gracious initiative. Beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts the grip of moral and spiritual ugliness. The soul's engagement with beauty elicits love and forges new affection that no earthly power can overcome.
The best way I can describe this is with an illustrate I have heard from Sam Storms from Greek Mythology of two men, Ulysses and Jason) Most of you will remember the story from Greek mythology of Odysseus, also known as Ulysses. After the Trojan War on the return voyage to his home Ithaca Ulysses and his crew approached the deadly island of the Sirens. Countless were the unwitting sailors who, on passing by their island, succumbed to the outward beauty of the Sirens and their seductively irresistible songs. Once lured close to shore, their boats crashed on the hidden rocks lurking beneath the surface of the sea. The demonic cannibals whose alluring disguise and mesmerizing melodies had drawn them close wasted little time in savagely consuming their flesh. Ulysses had been duly warned about the sirens and their lethal hypocrisy. Upon reaching their island, he ordered his crew to put wax in their ears lest they be lured to their ultimate demise. “Look neither to the left nor right," he commanded them. “And row for your lives.” Ulysses had other plans for himself. He instructed his crew to strap him to the mast of the ship, leaving his ears unplugged. "I want to hear their song," said the curious, but foolish. leader. "No matter what I say or do, don't untie me until we are safely at a distance from the island." Ulysses was utterly seduced by the songs of the Sirens. Were not for the ropes that held him fast to the mast, Ulysses would succumbed to their invitation.
But then there was Jason. Jason, like Ulysses, was himself a character of ancient mythology. Again, like Ulysses, he faced the temptation posed by the sonorous tones of the Sirens. But his solution was of a different order. Jason brought with him a certain Orpheus, the son of Oeager. Orpheus was a musician of incomparable talent, especially on the lyre and flute. When it came time, Jason declined to plug the ears of his crew. Neither did he strap himself to the mast to restrain his otherwise lustful yearning for whatever pleasures the Sirens might sing. Instead, he ordered Orpheus to play his most beautiful, most alluring songs. The Sirens didn't stand a chance! Notwithstanding their collective allure, Jason and his men paid no heed to the Sirens.
They were not in the least inclined to succumb. Why? Because they were captivated by a transcendent sound. The music of Orpheus was of a different order. Jason and his men rebuffed the sounds of the Sirens because they had heard something far sweeter, far nobler, and far more soothing.
Which one of the men are you like: Ulysses drawn by the deadly and seductive sound of the Sirens, struggling within, outwardly held back at best by the ropes of will, fear, duty, obligation, or discipline, deceived by the ugliness of sin because we haven't gazed at the beauty of Christ. Or are you like Jason, so attracted to the beautiful music of the master musician that to see His beauty and to know Him and to be in His presence is the soul’s final feast! There is nothing beyond this. Nothing more urgent. Nothing more important. Nothing more satisfying.
Another time Jonathan Edwards wrote: “The pleasures of loving and obeying, loving and adoring, blessing and praising the infinite being, the best of Beings, the Eternal Jehovah, the pleasures in trusting Jesus Christ, in contemplating His beauties, excellencies, and glories, in contemplating His love to mankind and to us, in contemplating His infinite goodness and astounding loving kindness…these are the pleasures that are worthy so noble a creature as a man is.”
Do you have a desire for that one thing? Here is what I mean by having a desire for the one thing. Here is what God had in mind when He created and redeemed you. Here is what God had in mind when He created and fashioned your heart and stamped His indelible image upon it. you, we, were made to be enchanted, enamored, and engrossed with God; enthralled, enraptured, and entranced with God; enravished, excited, and enticed by God; astonished, amazed, and awed by God; astounded, absorbed, and agog with God; beguiled and bedazzled, startled and staggered, smitten and stunned; stupefied and spellbound; charmed and consumed; thrilled and thunderstruck; obsessed and preoccupied; intrigued and impassioned; overwhelmed and overwrought; gripped and rapt; enthused and electrified; tantalized, mesmerized, and monopolized, fascinated, captivated, and exhilarated by God; intoxicated and infatuated with God!
Does that sound like your life? Do you want it to'? Or do you still love the music of the worldly sirens? Do you find yourself desiring those “fruitless pleasures” of the world? “The One Thing” is what God made you for. Kierkegaard said it well, “Purity in heart is to will the one thing”. May we join David and from our hearts desire to see God’s beauty. Amen!
Father in heaven! What is a man without You! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he does not know You! What is all his striving, could it even encompass a world, but a half-finished work if he does not know You: You the One, who are one thing and who are all! So may You give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to this understanding; to the will, purity that wills only one thing. In prosperity may You grant perseverance to will one thing; amid distractions, collectedness to will one thing; in suffering, patience to will one thing. Oh, You that give both the beginning and the completion, may You early, at the dawn of day, give to the young man the resolution to will one thing. As the day wanes, may You give to the old man a renewed remembrance of his first resolution, that the first may be like the last, the last like the first, in possession of a life that has willed only one thing' '
Soren Kierkegaard
Longing for the "one thing",
Pastor Bill
2 comments:
God has gifted you in a wonderful way, putting pen to paper to express the treasures of the Kingdom. What a beautiful picture of the "One Thing."
The Lord is at hand, participating in all our struggles.When we agree with Him "Thy Kingdom come,thy will be done," then, similar to the Lord's death on the cross, "It is finished," meaning I am crucified with Christ. He has His way, the Kingdom is come, I am dead, and fully in possesion of the "One thing." Glory, honor,and blessing be to God our provider, our redeemer, the One who sees, our shepard!
Thanks for the kind words and most of all, thanks be to God!
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