"Just Him"
SCRIPTURES
Let me share just two Scriptures pertaining to this subject:
Psalms 90:17 (KJV) “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us.” So what does it mean for God’s beauty to rest upon us? We may have difficulty completely understanding it at this time, but we should all agree with this…it MUST BE ABSOLUTELY, UTTERLY BREATHTAKING! Oh dare we even imagine the beauty, the glory, the holiness, the splendor of the Lord Himself enveloping us! God’s glory, His presence, His “Being” must be, to the logical mind, extraordinarily beautiful. Don’t we want to, at least, catch a glimpse of this beauty? As Christians how we often settle for so much less in our faith walks than, not only what is possible, but what is expected from us…what has been given to us, the splendor of our Lord!
Psalms 27:4 “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: 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 meditate in His temple.”
Notice first in this verse that the Psalmist desired to behold the Lord’s beauty. It begins here, in the heart. That desire must first come from God’s grace extended toward us. The desire that develops within us is our response to God’s love, our openness, the welcoming of God into our hearts and lives. Furthermore, observe in this verse the active verbs. David, the Psalmist, “asked” of this privilege from the Lord, to see His beauty, that is. Many of us have never asked for God’s glory or presence or beauty to rest upon us. Most Christians have never requested of the Lord their heartfelt desire to behold His beauty…which is the very reason our Lord Jesus Himself had to spend a verse in the Bible as simply as possibly reminding us of our need to “ask, seek, and knock (Mt. 7:7).”
We see that following the permission of the Lord to behold His beauty, next comes the Psalmist “seeking” this beauty, this holiness, this splendor. For the few people that do welcome God’s grace in their lives and are instilled with a desire for His presence, fewer will ask to experience that glory, and even fewer yet will seek that participation in the Lord’s beauty. I hope some of you will do just that this morning. Do not ask for anything else, just His majesty to rest upon you. And then seek after it with all your heart. This is a simple vow, a straightforward act of our wills, yet it is more exhilarating to our minds, bodies, souls, and spirits than anything else this earth has to offer.
Notice finally in this verse the key phrase “To behold the beauty of the LORD.” So what does it mean to behold His beauty? Or, from the previous verse, how does God’s beauty rest upon us? How does any of this happen? Well, we have just seen in Psalms a three-step, simple (but heartfelt) process.
God is constantly wooing us to His Son Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. When we open our hearts and minds to the Spirit, we begin the process of becoming “one” with Him. We open our hearts by faith to the glorious One. Once we have tasted of the Lord and seen that He is oh so good (Psalm 34:8), then we begin to have an insatiable appetite for more. For there is nothing in this world which tastes nearly so delectable. Nothing else will any longer quench our thirst or satisfy our hunger.
JUST HIM
We do not ask for things, not even for answers to prayers. We do not seek blessings. We do not ask for strength. We do not look for personal gain. We do not inquire for healing or deliverance or wealth. We do not seek some sort of ecstatic sensation. We do not even look for a better life.
Nary a one of these are forbidden or in some way ever considered a “wrong” petition to the Lord. They all have their place and time. Nevertheless, all are secondary in comparison. We desire nothing else except for the glory and splendor of our God to rest upon us. We have tunnel vision. We have a one-track mind. We have one primary mission in life. Nothing else will sidetrack us. Nothing else can compare in significance. Nothing else…matters.
We want HIM…just Him.
