One thing I seek from the Lord
April 21, 2023 - Friday, Second Week of Easter
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
Psalm 27 is a confession of trust. The psalmist has no fear of his enemies because he places his trust in the saving power of the Lord and he asks that God would not leave him in the hands of his enemies (Ps 27:9, 12). The enemies are described as “the wicked” who want to destroy the psalmist, “an army” that aims to wage war against him, and unjust witnesses that rise against him (see Ps 27:2-3; 12).
In the letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul writes that as Christians we are at war with spiritual forces of evil (Eph 6:12) and Saint Peter writes that our adversary is “the devil” that wants to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). Thus, we can read this psalm from a spiritual point of view. We have once been in darkness but the Father transferred us “to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col 1:13). We were once “dead in the trespasses and sins” and followed “the prince of the power of the air” but the Father, rich in mercy, “made us alive together with Christ” and enable us to obey and follow His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. When has this transformation happened? In the sacrament of baptism.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”. As Christians, we join the psalmist in his proclamation of trust. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world and he is our Light. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and he is our Saviour. He defends us from our enemies, he made them falter and fell (see Ps 27:2). And so we are not afraid, not even the power of death (see Heb. 2:14-15). Through the sacrament of baptism we have been united with our Lord in his death, burial, and resurrection (see Rom 6:3-4). And the Holy Spirit that has inhabited us enable us to walk in the newness of life.
Another fruit of the sacrament of baptism is the change in the way we look at life. Before, our focus was on satisfying our desire for material things, recognition and power, pleasure and worldly success. Now, like the psalmist, we only have one desire “to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of [our] life and behold the beauty of the Lord (Ps 27:4). For a pious Jew of biblical times, the temple was the centre of the world. It was the place where one could experience God’s presence. From a Christian point of view, contemplating God in his sanctuary brings to mind the Eucharist and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. But, the words of the psalmist remind us about the true aim of life: to enter into the heavenly sanctuary of God and to contemplate His beauty in the company of angels and saints.
The psalmist believes that he “shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Ps 27:13). This “land of the living” is defined in our Creed as “the resurrection from the dead and the life of the world to come”. With the passing age, I realise that this world has very little to offer. I found myself more and more dedicated to prayer than work. And my favourite part of the Bible are the last two chapters of the book of Revelation which describe a new heaven and a new earth, the beautiful heavenly Jerusalem, and the river of life that flows through that city. I hope and pray that one day we all shall see “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”.