Nearness That Reshapes Us

What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been?

Maybe it was a quiet cathedral, stained glass filling the room with colors, or a forest alive with bird songs and dancing leaves. Wherever your place is, have you ever wished you could stay there forever—surrounded by so much beauty and safety that your soul can finally breathe?

David prays that way in Psalm 27:4:

“I have asked the Lord for one thing,
this is what I desire:
to live in the Lord’s house all my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord,
and to contemplate in his temple.” (NET)

For ancient Israel, Jerusalem’s temple marked the center of their world—the place where Heaven and Earth meet. That idea first appears in Genesis, in the garden of Eden, where God walked with humanity and provided everything necessary—a place with no suffering, no threats, no death.

David’s longing isn’t for a spectacular building but for closeness with God—the kind of nearness that reshapes a person and brings true peace.

When Jesus arrives, he moves that Heaven-and-Earth space from Jerusalem’s temple into human hearts. People become the temple where God dwells. Divine beauty and peace are no longer tied to one city or structure; they’re found wherever God’s will is done “on Earth as in Heaven.”

Today, ask: What do I want most? David’s answer exposes humanity’s deepest desire—to be safe, loved, and at peace with our creator.

My Thoughts

Who doesn’t like to feel safe and at peace? When I became a Christian over five decades ago, for the first time, I felt loved and welcomed, at peace with the person God created me to me. I have had ups and downs in my walk with the Lord, yet I continue to return to that same place of peace. It isn’t a building, a monument or a beautiful part of nature. It’s the quiet place I find within myself when I focus on my relationship with God and how close I know that He is to me. He is right there, in my whispered prayers and in the prayers that I don’t say but that are in my heart. God hears and moves closer to me, just when I need Him. This is my piece of heaven on earth.