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.
Psalm 27:4 (ESV)
The world is making less sense every day and sometimes beauty is so exceedingly difficult to find. Being a connoisseur of beauty I take particular note of all the ugly stuff—the human violence, deceit, disease, famine, natural disasters, et al in our sin-cursed world—and I find myself hungering for more and lasting beauty.
You and I can see physical beauty in a sunset, a waterfall or a child’s smile. Therefore, if the beauty we behold on earth has its root and origin in God, there must have been beauty in God from all eternity. In fact in His nature He possesses everything that is beautiful and desirable. His character is one of perfection.
What, then, is the beauty of God? Beauty is what God is and what God does! His wisdom is beautiful wisdom, His power is beautiful power, His justice is beautiful justice, His goodness is beautiful goodness, His grace is beautiful grace, and His love is beautiful love—and on and on—His majesty, His mercy, His faithfulness, His righteousness, His sovereignty, His glory.
If there was a pattern by which we could measure God, it would be God Himself! God is the absolutely original pattern of all beauty. What a joy it will be to freely gaze upon the whole complement of the beauty of God for eternity! In the expression “to gaze,” the construction of the verb with a preposition implies a steadfast and penetrating contemplation of the sweet pleasantness of His divine character.
Day to day, God’s beauty brings much joy and appreciation to the forefront of my life and places the image of God in men and women on full display all around me. For generations, believers have celebrated truth, goodness, and beauty as testimonies to God’s existence and character.
In a recent Breakpoint newsletter a provocative question was asked. Did beauty ever save anyone from anything? It has! When all is said and done, beauty captivates, silences opposition, and shows God’s grace. Beauty is saving you and me until the future day when God will make everything beautiful in His time!