King David did not fear wicked people coming against him, or of war rising against him, or of false witnesses, or of those who breathed out cruel threats against him — or even the [surely remote] possibility of his father and mother forsaking him! In any or all of these things, David had set his desire on one thing.
“One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4) The King then mentions the temple as a tabernacle and as a pavilion — all three being places of reassurance and security due to the LORD’S presence dwelling in them.
Verse 8 reveals David’s heartfelt response to an invitation from the LORD to seek His face (an synonym for favour): “When You said, ‘Seek my face’, my heart replied, ‘O LORD, Your face will I seek.’ David’s desire to do the LORD’S will was the reason why God chose him to replace Saul, Israel’s first monarch, who had chosen to do his own will. In those days, a reigning monarch’s favour was shown in the turning of his face toward a supplicant. (The turning away of a monarch’s face indicated extreme disfavour.)
What’s your “one desire”? The temple of old has been replaced by the church as a whole and as the body of each Christian, i.e. as an individual filled with the Spirit and so the presence of God. God dwells in you and you in Him. Enemies are real but external — the question is what is there in you that causes you to desire things that do not belong? Worldly desires that compete with the
“one desire” — the only one that ought to belong in the temple of God?