Lord, I Am Coming

Meditations for Ragamuffins

October 5, 2023

Lord, I Am Coming 

“I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.”

Psalm 27:4 (MSG)

Abiding continually in the presence of God was the passion of the psalmist David’s life. He expressed it here in Psalm 27:4 and in Psalm 23:6, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.”

David models in Psalm 27 how we can make real in our lives the truth that the experience of absence does not mean the absence of experience. In the first six verses, the psalmist speaks about God, and in verse seven he begins speaking to God. I think this shift is an excellent pattern for prayer.  In the first portion of the psalm, David rehearses his personal convictions, his personal core values. Having thus established a firm foundation for his faith, he then makes his petitions to God. David was modeling what I discussed in my book, First Think, Then Pray. In this process of affirming the deepest convictions of his life, David makes a beautiful transition to communion with God: “My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming” (Psalm 27:8).

The Apostle Paul also modeled how his single-minded purpose in Christ sustained him through very difficult times. He told the Athenians, “In Christ we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28 NRSV), and he summarized his ministry in Corinth as, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).

My Takeaway: I too have my own personal core faith values. I meditate on my core values in a time of contemplative prayer as I express my devotion to Christ. Like the psalmist David, I have heard God say, “Come and talk with me.” My heart leaps with joy as I respond, “Lord, I am coming.” This too can be your experience because God is nearby.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.