“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 in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4, ESV)
On a dark, cold night in New York, I went through my first corn maze. The muddy paths and deep puddles made it hard to navigate, and each row of corn looked just like the last. It took us hours to find clues and finally the exit
Fortunately, I had a map, trained my eyes to spot small changes, and relied on family and friends who could see better than I could.
Life is like a corn maze, full of wrong turns and dead ends, and it requires a reliable map, clear vision, and a few good people to help us through.
We find those things and more in Christ's steady light.
Psalm 27 shows that David knew what it was like to face confusing paths too. Yet his first reaction wasn’t what we might expect. Our verse today tells us that after assessing his situation, he immediately turned his attention to God.
The Bible says that David’s courage and confidence came from God (1 Samuel 17:37, 45-47). David’s own words reflect his reliance on God for wisdom:
“I bless the LORD who gives me counsel…I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 16:7-8, ESV).
“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 in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
I’ve always been someone who sees beauty all around me. At six, instead of running for Easter eggs, I stood looking up at the sky with an overwhelming sense of God’s presence. That moment has stayed with me my whole life.
David explains in Psalm 19:1 that God's beauty directs us to Him:
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
David was more than a shepherd, warrior, and king. He was also a musician and poet. His God‑inspired Psalms are still sung in churches today.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God‑breathed, so the Psalms—and the whole Bible—are God’s Words. Even their structure reflects His order and beauty.
Psalm 27 uses chiastic form, a poetic technique where an idea is repeated in reverse order. This structure unifies the message and helps us remember it.
As the weather cools and we prepare for darker, colder days ahead, October brings one of my favorite holidays: Halloween. Besides pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating (passing out candy as much as eating it), I love a safe scare, a good spooky story, and the cathartic feeling of confronting my deepest anxieties about death, mortality, and the afterlife from a comfortable place.
It’s hard to resist the spooky season when it’s all around me. Something about the supernatural, the unknown, and the things that go bump in the night is fascinating. But when fascination edges into fear, David’s words in Psalm 27:1 remind us that we don’t have to be afraid:
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (ESV)
David learned from a lifetime of following God to trust Him with everything and lean into Him instead of his fears.
Understanding the Light of Psalm 27
We cannot determine with certainty when in David’s life Psalm 27 was written. We can, however, get a clear picture of what he was facing at the time of its writing when we read verses 3–4:
“When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.” (ESV)
David was dealing with real life. Reality for him included evil people who wanted to assault him violently, rivals who competed with him, enemies who refused to back down, and armies that wanted to destroy him.
Written by Joy Michelle Austin
When I turned thirty, I thought I would be “30, flirty, and thriving.” Instead, I found myself in a medical desert that would stretch across nearly a decade. Disability changed my days, my plans, and the way I saw my life. I kept wondering: How could I be in my thirties, living back at home, single, childless, and unable even to hold a dinner fork?
Most days, darkness felt louder than faith. I prayed, questioned, grieved, yelled, and struggled just to make it through one minute at a time. I did not always feel strong. I certainly did not always have the right words. But even when I could not see the road ahead, God was there.
Just before turning forty, I could miraculously use my hands again without pain or assistance and discovered I still had dreams! While I had been struggling to see past the darkness, God had been faithfully planting seeds and watering my soul.
“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 in his temple” (Psalm 27:4, ESV).
I’ve always admired single-minded people who know what they want and go after it. They set goals, strategize for success, and stay focused until those goals become reality. We’ve all read or heard about people who’ve accomplished amazing feats. Their stories sound alike. They focus on what they want and go after it with everything they have.
But Scripture calls us to a deeper kind of focus—one that shapes not just our goals, but our entire lives. Paul warns us to be single-minded in our pursuit of God:
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2, ESV).
David demonstrates this single-mindedness in our verse today when he says that all he wants from God is “one thing” he would seek: to be with God. In a later Psalm, he continues this theme of being solely focused on God when he prays,
“Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11, ESV).
The Bible warns us against being double-minded or having a divided heart. We are either for God or against Him (1 Kings 18:21, Matthew 6:24, James 4:8). Indecision or a lackadaisical attitude could have cost David his kingdom or, worse, his life. David kept his heart fixed on God, yet we know how challenging that can be in our own lives. Scripture cautions us that being double-minded makes us “unstable in all [our] ways” (James 1:9, ESV).