I mentioned in previous posts that having turned seventy this year I’m feeling every pain and taking all the pills to prove it. We septuagenarians and beyond may whine and complain, but one thing we can be thankful for is the diminishing struggle against peer pressure! In my case, seventy is the new eighty and somedays it’s how I imagine what it feels like to be a hundred! Thanks for listening. I feel better now, but I should get on with it before I feel the need to whine again.
Anyway, it’s the last verse of Psalm 90 that’s my favorite: “May the beauty of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.”
So, what’s the connection between this Psalm’s old age theme and the beauty of God? Not sure, but my guess is that when Moses looked in the mirror at the wrinkly face looking back at him, he mused about the contrast between what he saw and the glory he’d observed in the flaming bush, the pillar of fire and cloud in the wilderness, and the Shekinah that hovered over the Tabernacle.
Solomon observed that human beauty is “fleeting.” Maybe that’s why, as he aged, he kept marrying younger wives. (Sorry. Bad joke.) But God’s beauty is forever. Ours is in decline, said Captain Obvious. If it weren’t, you’d see ninety-year olds on the cover of Cosmopolitan and GQ. Our beauty, if we have any at all, is skin deep and his? Deeper than the depth of the universe.
We see his beauty reflected in what he created. Everyone has their own favorite expressions of it. For me it’s in my granddaughters, the redwoods and the ocean near me, and music of most kinds (except opera. My apologies to the memory of Pavarotti.) Yours may be the heavens, the paintings of O’Keeffe or Picasso, or your grandchildren that you mistakenly believe are as beautiful as mine.
Wherever you see beauty, know that it took a beautiful Creator to put it there. But no matter what we experience in this temporary sphere, when heaven meets earth and the New Jerusalem descends, his beauty will be unavoidable and grander than anything we’ve imagined. Of course, he’ll be the epicenter of it all, emanating through it all, making everything and everyone beautiful.
Oceans, stars, and sunsets are at best an opaque refection of his beauty. They are secondary to him, as he alone is the ultimate beauty. “Perfect in beauty, God shines forth.” (Psalm 50:2)
There’s a difference between being aware of something beautiful and appreciating it for its beauty.
I took an Art Appreciation class in college. Don’t know why they call it that. I didn’t appreciate it any more than before I took the class. I studied the works of great painters, potters, and sculptors in order to get a good grade and achieve a degree so I could ultimately have a career. A lot of good that did for me as a pastor! But at least I passed the class. I really didn’t appreciate much of any of it as a form of beauty. I passed the class by knowing the difference between a Van Goh and a Monet, but my “appreciation” was purely utilitarian.
Now I go out of my way to spend time and money at art galleries. At least it’s cheaper than buying the paintings themselves. It’s a whole different experience than being forced to learn stuff about which I saw no value. Now I truly appreciate the form of beauty the world’s best artists provide. And until we appreciate God in that way, for the pure pleasure of it, we miss out on what it really means to know him as he is. His beauty attracts us to him. We don’t just need it to get something. We love it. We don’t just find his beauty useful but compelling.
I fear that many people use God more than love him. Their faith is self-centered—utilitarian rather than appreciation. They use him to get stuff from him (security, peace, prosperity), rather than serve God to get God. Tim Keller said, “God’s beauty isn’t one of his attributes, it’s the sum total of them all!” (Speaking of Keller, I can’t more highly recommend his great message based on Psalm 27 on God’s beauty.)
Have you noticed how that every time we see something beautiful, we whip out the cameras we’re tethered to, take fifteen photos of it, and post them on Facebook before we’ve actually paused to actually enjoy it! Is this how we relate to the God of beauty? Is our knowledge and experience of him just useful as a social media meme?
David said all he wanted to do was dwell in the temple and “gaze on the beauty of the Lord.” (Psalm 27:4) You gaze at something you can’t stop looking at. You stare at it and can’t get enough of it. He’s worthy of our gaze. More than worthy? He’s beautiful.
There was a time when Jesus temporarily set aside his beauty. He intentionally “emptied himself” of his “majesty” (Philippians 2; Isaiah 53). Further than that, he became “disfigured” as he was beaten and nailed to a cross. He became unbeautiful on purpose in order to replace our ugly sinfulness for his beauty. His beauty may be reflected in creation, but revealed and received in redemption.
This and only this is how his beauty can “rest upon us” as Moses prayed.
barney wiget 