Beautiful

“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

How does a person describe a definition?

The definition tells a person what a thing is,

but if the definition in itself is a great mystery,

how is the mystery described?

With many words that will never be enough.

beautiful  adj.  1. having beauty; delighting the senses or the mind.  2. God.

The reasons and the depths by which God defines the very word beautiful are astounding, which no person can or will ever—not even in a lifetime of diligent effort—explain the fullness of.  The source that has best put words to the beauty of God is His own word.  As the creator of words and language, would it not make sense that He alone can use those words to describe with great truth the fullness of His beauty as it can be best understood by humans—who in fact don’t possess the understanding to absorb all that His beauty means?

The very first words the Father declared to be written as his word are a mighty image of how God defines beautiful, because He created all things that people look at and describe as beautiful.  God breathes out beautiful.  His very nature which produced all good things is beautiful.  God’s goodness and His beauty go hand in hand—He is good because He is beautiful and beautiful because He is good. 

And God is never limited.  His beauty is not limited to His goodness.  God is beautiful because of His every quality and every characteristic.  God defines beauty because of His perfection.  And the perfection of God’s goodness and love and grace and mercy and justice are beautiful.  Beautifully relaxing sometimes.  Beautifully terrifying sometimes.  Beautifully powerful other times.  But always beautiful.  Beautifully delightful, if that makes any sense. 

When I see the beauty of God, it becomes clear to me that there really is nothing better than to stare into and gaze upon all that this wonderful God is.

Creator and Sustainer.

Lord and Savior.

Father.

Lover.

Truth and Hope.

Judge.

Joy and Peace.

Author and Perfecter.

Strength.

Sovereign Ruler.

Victory.

Redeemer of the Redeemed.

My words will never suffice to describe what the Father speaks in his own word and has put on display day after day.  Because day by day He calls, He loves, He grants mercy and saving grace to those who seek it.  His presence satisfies.  His glory amazes. Faith in Him will never put one to shame.  He heals the brokenhearted.  He comforts all who mourn.  He makes beauty out of ashes.  My failures, my mistakes, my endless list of sins don’t surprise Him, and they aren’t too much for Him to handle.  There is no book large enough to hold the vastness that is God.  He gives life.  He makes everything new.  He proclaims liberty to the captives.  All my tears are in his bottle.  Yet for all these words and descriptions, He is still a mystery.

I know that words will never be enough to explain the beauty of my God. 

But the important thing is that I try.