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)
Psalm 27 unveils David’s heart for God in the midst of danger and the threat of death. In this poem, we witness a desire-driven hunt for Beauty. The poet expresses an all-consuming desire to enjoy God that leads to a wholehearted hunt for God. By both example and exhortation, David kindles our Godward longing to enflame our Godward pursuit. In short, David calls us to be on the Beauty hunt.
God’s Beauty in God’s Place
What exactly is David’s desire? His prayer for “one thing” reveals what he most wants. He desires a place: to dwell in the house of God all the time. Yet David yearns for the place for a specific purpose: “to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.” It is the person our poet truly longs for. The place serves as a focal point of the Beauty.
Beauty is that which arouses our delight and desire. Beauty calls to the soul; it draws the heart like a magnet. The word David uses for beauty (nōʿam) means “loveliness” or “pleasantness.” He wants to experience all that makes God delightful and desirable — to “behold the king in his beauty” (Isaiah 33:17).
In other words, David’s singular desire is to enjoy God’s beauty in God’s place. And that desire inspires a passionate pursuit. Consider three characteristics of this hunt in Psalm 27.
1. God-Focused Hunt
“One thing . . . will I seek after.” David is laser-focused. He is all in on this all-out pursuit. Gazing on God is his guiding passion. The poetic logic in Psalm 27 is crystal clear: God is preeminently desirable (beautiful); therefore, hunt him with all your heart.
Perhaps you are wondering, How do I hunt for God? What does that pursuit look like? Simply put, to be on the Beauty hunt means you are actively looking to encounter the beauty of God everywhere you can. After all, he shines in all that’s fair. To be on the beauty hunt is to seek to enjoy God all the time and in everything.
In this psalm, David primarily looks for the glory of God’s salvation. In Psalm 19:1–6, David hunts for glory in God’s world. In Psalm 119, David looks to the letters of God’s word to spell out his glory. And in Psalm 16:3, David rejoices in the reflected glory of God’s people. Seeing God’s beauty is David’s single-minded aim — his one thing — yet he pursues his prey down many paths. He is a man after God’s heart.
Do you pursue God with such single-minded focus? Along every trail, are you hunting for Beauty? Do you open his word each day with your nose to the ground, looking to behold the King? Do you gaze at the splendor of the gospel? Do you ransack his world seeking to see him? Do you marvel at the smiles of those who reflect his image? Are you awake and alive to God?
2. God-Empowered Hunt
The pursuit of Psalm 27 is a hunt for God, but that’s not the whole picture.
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (verse 8)
This is a God-empowered hunt. To be more accurate, God is first the hunter before he is the hunted. The King himself sounds the signal. He commissions David, “Seek my face.” He calls David to bask in his smile. Only then can David begin the pursuit. David is the hunter because he is first the hunted.
Apart from God, we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Dead men don’t hunt. “No one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11) until God seeks him. Jesus explains, “No one can come to me unless the Father . . . draws him” (John 6:44). None.
So, if you are on the hunt for God, it is because God is hunting you. If you seek real Beauty, it is because Goodness and Mercy has chosen to chase you down all the days of your life (Psalm 23:6). John puts it like this: “We love [God] because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We hunt because we are hunted. This is the gospel.
3. God-Exalting Hunt
In verse 6, David anticipates what will happen when he catches his quarry — or when his quarry catches him.
And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
The result of hunting Beauty is joy, superabundant joy that erupts into praise. This is a God-exalting hunt because joy in God magnifies God. David pursues the pleasure of God’s beauty, and that joy he finds explodes into God-glorifying song. When God is fully prized, he is fully praised. When we deeply delight in God, we highly exalt God. This is what we were made for: to glorify God by enjoying him forever. We exist to be holy hedonists. This is why the hunt is not optional but imperative.
What good news! To gaze on the beauty of God, to enjoy all that God is for us in Christ, to savor Trinitarian fullness — there can be no greater happiness. God himself is the happiest being imaginable because he has forever savored this gigantic mirth within the fellowship of the Trinity. The gospel invites us to participate in that joy — joy larger than the universe, deeper than eternity.
The hunt for Beauty is ultimately a hunt for gospel joy. It is the pursuit of God-glorifying happiness. And because this hunt is God-focused, God-empowered, and God-exalting, we may confidently say with David, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (verse 13).
Take Up the Chase
What is the conclusion of the matter?
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord! (verse 14)
David concludes by commissioning us to hunt for God. That word “wait” might be better translated as “look eagerly for.” Look eagerly for the Lord. Be brave, and search expectantly for God. In other words, be on the Beauty hunt.
I call you to the hunt. Desire God and pursue him. Go hard after him. You cannot put too much fuel on this fire. Will you take up the chase?
Desiring God