Psalm 27:4 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.

The first part is asking something of the Lord. We have a desire that we want met. The second part is an inquiry, to obtain information. Why did David implicate the issue of a temple since David did not build a temple for the Lord? Was this a prophetic utterance? We can study the Psalms and discover many prophetic utterances. Is this one more?

Reading in 2 Samuel 6 it is plain to see that the Lord did not ask to be housed in cedar. It was David’s wish to place the Ark of the Covenant in a permanent place. During that study I inquired of the Lord.

Why did David fear you?

Why did David overcome that fear?

Why wasn’t David allowed to build a temple?

Why was the Lord’s promise placed on an unborn son?

What does this temple have to do with me, now?

Those were my questions and the Lord answered me. I am not asking you to answer them nor am I going to share His answers. It was a private conversation about my curiosity. It is not fair for me to impose that upon others. This leads me to the focus of this devotional?

Do you seek answers from the Lord or men? Men are easier to hear but we all have a relationship with our Lord and the answers to a pondering heart lies within our hearts. Ask Him.

Exodus 28:3 King James Version (KJV) And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.

The Hebrew word here for wisdom is chokah. The ESV translation renders it as the word skill and this is why. Its primary definition is skill of an artificer, dexterity. If you never looked into translations from the Hebrew to English, or your native tongue, you might just assume you understood a word and let it go without study. Just how could the KJV translators be so wrong? Or were they?

Up until this time what had garment makers produced for their compatriots? Dresses for women or perhaps protective clothing for warriors might be all they had done thus far. Perhaps they had seen Pharaoh’s priest dressed in their pagan garb. It is unlikely they were allowed to design and clothe those priests. Consider this in pondering those thoughts, how could clothes consecrate Aaron? Now it seems a little more complicated than making a garment. It is making a garment with purpose.

Here is where wisdom has a place within the context of purpose. The craftsman was given a vision of the end result. This is much like a sculptor who can see the end result of his carving before he picks up a hammer and chisel.  Wisdom is seeing the results before action is taken.

To put it in simple layman terms worldly wisdom has to touch that hot stove to understand what hot means. Godly wisdom understands what hot is without having to touch it. There is wisdom gained by making mistakes and there is wisdom by trusting God in His revelations to us.

Can you trust God when He says, “Don’t eat or you will die.” Or do you need to understand what He meant by die?