Psalms 27:4, commentary and pictures

The one settled, chief desire and pursuit to be sought with single-hearted purpose is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of life, which is to remain continually in His presence, to behold His beauty and loveliness, and to enquire of Him and learn from Him in His temple. It is a song of confidence in the Lord as light, salvation, strength, protection, and salvation, to be sung now without fear when enemies come, when a host encamps, or when war rises. Believers may sing it with joy while awaiting final triumph and praising God for what He has done for His people.

It promises keeping in the time and day of trouble, when God hides the trusting one in His pavilion and in the secret of His tabernacle and sets and lifts him upon a rock. It looks forward to the day of great joy when the saved will receive according to their works. This confidence belongs to those who love God and keep His commandments by asking Him for light and instruction and submitting to follow Him in full confidence that He will guide and lead the mind.

This was seen as when one halting between soul-saving work and worldly business receives light upon the pathway and decides to take up the work the Lord has for him to do. In learning the simplicity of the gospel, the one thing that may safely be desired is a double portion of the Holy Spirit. David's one desire is the single theme worthy of human attention, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the same as Paul's one determination to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified and the one thing he does, and the same as the one thing needful told to Martha, meaning abandoning all else to be swallowed up in the one great question.

That oneness teaches the oneness of God's work, in which the third angel's message in all its fulness is the gospel in all its fulness, embracing preaching, literature distribution, educational work, and medical missionary work as one gospel work to be prayed for and supported.