PSALM 27:4-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.”

Stop and think of the various reasons we get upon a Sunday morning and go to a gathering of God’s people. I am sure the most common one will be to worship the Lord, but there are other good reasons. Here are a few; to obey the command not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together(Hebrews 10:25), to encourage other believers (Hebrews 3:13), and to serve the Lord with fear (Psalm 2:11).But what about today’s verse and David’s prayer? Did his reasons make our list for why we go to church? For David, they were at the top of his. And if what we see in his reasons are not on ours, we might want to consider redoing our list.

First David goes to the Lord before he goes to church–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. What is implied in this prayer petition is David’s awareness of the privilege to be able to dwell in the Lord’s house. What about us? Did we wake up yesterday morning with a sense of “we get to” not “we have to” go to church? To truly worship and minister to other Christians, we must see church attendance as one of the greatest privileges granted to us by the Lord not a dull obligation we have to endure. Don’t start here with our attitude toward church and true worship will not occur.

Next, David wants to go to the Lord’s house to encounter the splendor and majesty of His Person–to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And this beauty is that of His holiness. Earlier in the Psalms we read“ Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2). How would we know we are gazing upon the beauty of the Lord? Two chief things will be evident in us, with both necessary for acceptable worship–humility and fear. When in the Presence of God, human beings are humbled and gripped with healthy reverence for the Lord always leading to true worship.

A final reason David went to church was to fellowship with his God in prayer–to inquire in His temple. Prayer is not primarily about getting God to give or do something for us. It is about “inquiring” into His Person; knowing Him and communicating with Him in the language of love which is prayer.

So, why do we go to church? Let David serve as a model for us. He went to church as a privilege not to neglect, as the opportunity to encounter the beauty of his God, and as a time to commune with Him through prayer.

PRAYER: “Father, may I learn to come to church to see Your beauty that fuels and directs true worship.”

QUOTE: “The Christian life is the pursuit of beholding the Lord in His Word, prayer and with His people.”