We have all dreamed of coming across that magical lamp. You know, the one where you accidentally rub it and out pops your personal genie. A genie to do your bidding. A genie to answer your every request. We all know the folk lore regarding the genie. The genie grants you three wishes and you must use them wisely, because once you make a wish it cannot be undone without using another wish. However, the original genie found in One Thousand And One Nights was not limited to three wishes. On the contrary, the genie was there to serve his master until someone else possessed the magical lamp. What a thrill that would be. Not just three magical wishes, but whatever your heart desires. That takes away the difficulty of deciding which three things to ask for .

This brings us to the real question. If you only had one wish, one thing you could ask for, what would it be? I’m sure a dozen things immediately cross your mind of what you could ask for; a billion dollars, a fountain of youth, an endless supply of food, or for the more sentimental, love and happiness. But I think it is important for us to look at a Biblical reference before we answer that question. David, a man after God’s own heart, had this to say about his one wish.

Psalms 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.”

You may think that David already had wealth, power and a family, so why would he waste his “wish” on those things. But you would be amiss in your thinking. This habit or desire to seek God did not come after David had achieved great status in his life. Rather, he built his desire for God on the hillside while doing the lowliest of jobs in his father’s household. It was while watching the sheep, out there by himself, that David spent countless hours playing his harp and singing praises to his God. Long before he was anointed king, or even took the throne, David developed an intimacy with God.

David was a king, a soldier, a father, a husband, a musician, a writer, and a worshipper. Yet, in all those things he knew his purpose, intimacy with God. That sums up who David was and what he was about. He was described as a man after God’s own heart. That came from years of intimacy with God. That is why David, a king, wore priestly garments. That is why David, the ruler of all of Israel, danced before the Lord with all his might to the point that his wife called him foolish. Nothing else mattered more to David than dwelling in the presence of God.

Let us say you came across a magical lamp today that when you rubbed it a magical genie appeared to grant you just one wish, one desire, one thing. What would your one thing be? Would it be riches and fame, love and happiness, or would you be a man or a woman after God’s own heart? You actually do have a magical genie, not necessarily to do your bidding, but to do something more meaningful than the wealth of this world can provide, that is, salvation. And if you could ask one thing of God today, what would it be? What is your one thing? We should echo the words of David, “One thing have I asked of the Lord…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”