If you could ask God for one thing, what would you ask for? Now, that brings up a lot of things, doesn’t it? You could ask for good health as long as you live. You could look outside yourself and ask for protection for your loved ones. You could go global and ask for world peace…good luck with that! You could ask to win the lottery. Now, that’s something that could benefit the needs of many if you chose to spread the wealth around.

My question points to David. Early on, he never asked God for anything, and even after he secured the woman he wanted…albeit the wrong way…God forgave him, and he really did have it all. When he wrote the Psalms, he shared many emotions — uplifting praise to God, praying for understanding, claiming the Lord as his light, sharing all his joys and his sorrows, leaving us some beautiful poetry to make our own. But even David asked God for one thing; you’ll find it in Psalm 27, verse 4:
One thing have I asked of the Lord;
One thing I seek; that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life…

The Message translation reads this way:
I’m asking Yahweh 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.
That’s the only quiet secure place in
a noisy world.

So, is it time to ask such a thing of your God?

About the author: Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson is the priest at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in LaBelle.