Why You Were Saved (A Brief Devotional) — David Guzik

David’s Desire to Dwell in God’s House

Psalm 27, David says this,. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I 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 inquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion,. In the secret place of his tabernacle he shall hide me,. He shall set me high upon a rock. I have a theory, and you'll probably hear me talk about this in coming months on Sunday mornings.

David’s Desire to Serve as a Priest

But I have a theory that basically King David was a frustrated Levite. If you could have asked him, what do you really want to be David? If you had the choice to start all over again and God would give you whatever you want.

He'd say, I want to be a priest. I think you see a hint of this in 2 Samuel 6. When David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Do you remember what Michael, his wife, protested about? It wasn't that David was dancing in his underwear.

It was that he was dressed just like the common priest. He didn't set himself off with royal robes and a crown and all the rest of it. David seemed to take whatever opportunity he could to hang out with the priests and be just like them.

The Barriers of Old Testament Worship

And I think we catch some of the reason why here in Psalm 26 verses 4 and 5. One thing I've desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. There was something prohibitive about Old Testament worship.

You couldn't go to the tabernacle or to the temple just to hang out. If you were a common Israelite, you could go there if you had a sacrifice to bring. So you would go and bring your sacrifice. You'd give it to the priest and you'd be allowed into the outer courts of the temple to help offer your sacrifice and such.

But you couldn't go into the tabernacle or to the inner courts of the temple if you weren't a priest. The common people couldn't go. And then into the Holy of Holies, you could only go if you were the high priest and you could only go in there once a year.

One man, one day a year, was allowed to go in there for really what amounted to several minutes. And that's pretty heavy. That's prohibitive. Old Testament worship was all about walls. A wall separating the most holy place from the holy place.

A wall separating the holy place from the outer court. A wall separating the outer court from the rest of the world. It was all about walls. David looked at that and he kind of said, man, I wish I could be inside of there.

I'm of the tribe of Judah. I'm not of the tribe of Levi. I'm of the family of Judah. I'm not of the family of Levi or of Aaron, who were the priests. I think David looked and he goes, man, if I could do anything, I'd be a priest.

I would hang out in the temple. Now, this is what's significant about that. Contrast David with his son Solomon. God laid it all out on a silver platter for Solomon. Solomon, whatever you want, I'll give it to you.

Solomon’s Wisdom and David’s Desire for God’s Presence

What do you want? And what did Solomon ask for? Give me wisdom to rule your people. And God gave him wisdom. And that wasn't a bad thing for Solomon to ask for, but I would suggest it wasn't the best thing.

What David would ask for is he would have said, one thing I've desired of the Lord, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I just want to be close to you, God.

Salvation’s Purpose Is Fellowship with God

And this is why I bring this up. I think that if we forget this, we forget the whole purpose for God's work in our life and the whole purpose of salvation. Many of us think that we're saved just to kind of put a stamp on our forehead, so to speak, you know, spiritually.

We're saved just to get out of hell free card, you know, from God or something. And that's not it. That's not it at all. God works salvation and conversion in our life so that we can have a real relationship with him.

The Distance Between the Unconverted and God

Listen, the problem with the person who's not converted, who's not born again by the spirit of God, it isn't necessarily that they're a bad person, you know, in the way that we measure good and bad in this world.

The difference is, is that there is a whole lot of unnecessary distance between them and God that God has went through enormous lengths to take up all of that distance in Jesus Christ. And they're not they're not there.

They're still far away. And God wants them close because God created us for relationship with him. That's that's big. David knew that. That's why he said, I just want to hang out in the courts of the Lord.

A Love Relationship with God as the Goal of Salvation

I think that many of us in a Christian life, we forget. And live without vital recognition of the whole reason why we were saved. You were saved. To have a love relationship with God. You're not having that.

If you're not enjoying that in your life, you're missing out on the whole reason why you were saved. That's why God did it.