The other day my mom asked me what my favorite verse is. Any question beginning with “what’s your favorite” has always been hard for me to answer, maybe because I have yet to get good at decision-making in general.
But this one I knew right away. It resonates with me because I know it speaks about our purpose for living, what we were made for.
It may change, but for now my favorite Bible verse is Psalm 27:4. “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 (or meditate) in his temple.”
I love this because it’s single-focused and whole-hearted. “I could ask of God anything but there is just one thing I want, and I choose to seek after it in all that I say and do, in every area of my life…”
That one thing? Being with God. Dwelling in his house. I’m not just here for a long weekend… I’m moving in. I’m moving back in. And there’s no rent to be paid because He’s not my landlord; He’s my Father. He made me His child and now I belong in his house. I have my own key.
At some point we all contemplate what the word “home” means to us. It changes as we get older, as we move around for jobs or school, as family dynamics switch around, or in some cases, when family falls apart. Maybe we have a concrete and secure definition of that concept at the moment, but there’s no guarantee it won’t be different tomorrow.
For me this verse offers a promise of home, one that won’t disintegrate. It’s a place of constant and faithful love, a place with community, where we are no longer orphans but children of God, His Church.
This verse isn’t just talking about heaven, either, or being with God after we die. “All the days of my life…” That’s today. This God-conscious life starts here, now. It’s an every moment thing of following Him, discovering who He is, offering each breath and bit of energy as that which will bring Him glory. I’m convinced God can be found in the mundane, every-day routine as well as those moments we’d consider dots on our timelines, the ones that stick out as significant. “To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD”… that’s everything true about God that elicits praise from us. And “beholding is becoming…” We begin to look like whatever it is we’re looking at.
It’s easy, really, if I can position my heart in the right way. Am I breathing? Yes. Then I can praise Him. Is He worthy of it? Yes. And I will choose to walk through the open door into His house.
