PSALM 27:4.

One thing I ask of the Lord. This is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

TO PONDER

Anxiety and sadness are my companions as I write this devotion. I get through each day by seeking God’s face, as I share with him situations that only he can change I am comforted knowing he is love and in him is forgiveness and peace. So I can empathise, to some extent, with King David who wrote the beautiful words of the Psalm we are contemplating today

King David wrote these words while he was in the desert with his enemies pursuing him. He was only asking one thing of God, he just wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.

In those days the temple was seen as God’s home, it was safe, secure, a refuge against the turmoil of life, giving him not only physical safety but spiritual and mental refuge as well. He wanted to live with God, serve God, sit at God’s feet learn more about his ways; he wanted the peace that only comes from loving and trusting God.

This is the season of Lent, a time for soul searching, repentance and drawing closer to God; a time to have those difficult discussions grounded in the conviction that God is real and God is good and he sent his Son into the world that we may be saved. The horror of the cross is what allows us to seek God with our one request – to live in peace with him all the days of our lives.

PRAYER: In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o’er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story gathers round its head sublime. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, By the cross are sanctified; Peace is there that knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide. Amen. - Lutheran Hymnal  171

Today's devotion written by Maureen Macpherson, LifeWay Newcastle