The True North Verse

The Book of Psalms is my favorite book in the Bible, because I get enormous comforts and encouragement from all the Psalms the psalmists, especially King David, a man after God's own heart wrote.
Sure, a lot of Christians would list John 3:16 as their favorite verse, that, seems like a logo verse of what Christianity is about; but for me, Psalm 27:4 is the central of my spiritual system. It is what one of my favorite preachers Ty Gibson calls, the true north scripture.
Ps 27:4 One thing, have I asked of Yahweh, That, will I seek to secure,—That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh, all the days of my life, To view the delightfulness of Yahweh, And to contemplate in his temple. (Rotherham translation)
Keywords, ONE THING, SEEK TO SECURE, VIEW THE DELIGHTFULNESS.
One Thing, not 2 or 3; this was his number 1 priority, his one agenda, and Seek to Secure says, he was not just pondering on that, but truly he needed it so desperately that he had to secure it; what was he seeking to secure? To dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of his life; why? For the streets of gold, pearly gates, luxurious mansions? never getting sick or old? Apparently, these were not why King David wanted to dwell in the house of Yahweh. He wanted to dwell in the house of Yahweh was because he wanted to view (behold) the delightfulness of Yahweh.
In KJV, the word in the place of delightfulness is beauty.
Either way, King David knew that God is delightful, and that's why he loved God so much; that's also why he was called a man after God's own heart.
The question we have to ask ourselves today is, does God seem delightful to us?
For us Christians, it is not even a question whether we should follow God or not. Of course, we need to follow God, but beneath it, what is it that lies there?
Do we feel we have to do what God says just because He made the universe and that we have to do it or He'll get us; so I'd rather be up there in heaven instead of the hot place? Or maybe we do what He says is truly because we have realized God is truly amazingly, astonishingly beautiful?
But my next question is, how many of us, how often do we actually see God as delightful?
I can say with confidence, not a lot, not very often.
Then does it mean God has changed? Or maybe He relates to David in a way, but treats us in a different way? Or perhaps, it's simply we do not know God well enough to experience the same feelings and longings King David had; that we do not know God as who He truly is?
Therefore, when God's picture seems rather gloomy to me, I need to learn to examine my heart first and see what is it that twisted God's image, so I can wipe away the fog on my glasses, so I can see God's true characters better.
It's easy for us Christians today to preach a "gospel" of prosperity, or a "gospel" of going to heaven instead of the hot place, or giving prophecy seminars to prove that the Bible is accurate in its prediction of world's history and future... But when it comes to the beauty of God, we tend to run out of words after a few sentences. Even talking about God His very self may cause discomfort; probably deep inside our hearts we still hold some resentment against Him, but because we want to "be saved" and go to heaven, we need to keep our mouth shut.
In our evangelism, we need to present an accurate picture of God, so people are drawn to Him not just because someone has proved the accuracy of Bible prophecies, or the health principles, or other stuff, but because these people themselves have truly been amazed by the DELIGHTFULNESS of God. And that they would be extremely happy to find their one true love, and His name is Yahweh.
Now, before anyone can present them such an authentic delightful picture of God, they need to first experience a transformation first, they need to correct their old misconception of God, so their messages will be wholesome instead of broken.
I totally believe a revival will only come when we start to shift our attention from "ministries", Bible knowledge, prophecies to Yahweh Himself and the personal relationship between Him and us. Only when we know who He truly is, and have fallen love with Him, can we introduce an authentic Yahweh to people.
More to come, and please come and join me in a journey of the discovery of God's beauty.