God Is Beautiful
For many years (a phrase which seems to introduce almost everything I say or write these days), I have thought about and preached on the subject of the beauty of God. I have never heard anyone teach on the subject, but I did through the decades come across two written sermons on the topic, “The Beauty of the Lord” by J. D. Jones and “Are There Shortcuts to the Beauty of Holiness?” (the short answer is “No!”) by A. W. Tozer. More recently, I read a review of a scholarly article about the American preacher Jonathan Edwards (of “sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” fame) that mentioned in passing that the beauty of God was one of the great themes in his preaching. I was thus encouraged that I have not headed off on an unprofitable tangent. In simple terms, beauty is that which attracts, causes a favorable interest, and creates an affinity. Such real, eternal beauty is found in our God. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Psalm 90:17, Moses, the singing shepherd, said “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.” Saturday, we considered the practical outworkings of appreciation and expectation reflecting God’s beauty such that we can be used to attract others to God the Son, Jesus Christ. Another practical outcome is found in Psalm 149:4, where the unnamed writer says, “For the LORD taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Meekness has often been called strength under control; it is linked to humility, which is an honest self-evaluation. We remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Clearly, God finds meekness and humility to be beautiful characteristics; as always, the greatest example is Jesus Himself (see Philippians 2:5-11). Proud and arrogant people can have followers, but they will not attract others to be followers of Jesus Christ. Our Savior wants to “beautify” us with His “salvation”; He wants our eternal deliverance to be an attraction to other people. May His desire for us work out into our lives in the simple beauty of meekness and humility.