To Gaze Upon the Beauty

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalm 27:4

One thing I ask 

of the LORD, 

this is what I seek: 

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 seek 

him in his temple.

I was looking through the photos I took this past weekend.  Most were beautiful landscapes or pictures of family members. The photo above was a bit of beauty that I found in an unexpected place. I found these flowers in a parking lot. I had to move away a bit of trash just to take the photo. 

 

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: 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 seek him in his temple.

What is the one thing you would ask of the Lord, that one thing that you seek? Is it to dwell in His house all the days of your life and to gaze upon His beauty.  Is he your all in all? Is he your everything?

For most of us our relationship with the Lord is shades of grey. We fall way short of our own expectations. In our guilt and shame we strive to do better, to be more holy, only to realize how short we fall. Which keeps us on a treadmill going no where. 

Take a minute and gaze upon his beauty to spend some time in His presence. Not because it is the religious thing to do. Not because it is a way to prove your goodness or worthyness.  Gaze upon his beauty - its all around you. The whole of creation contains the finger prints of Gods most gracious hand. Read His word not as a list of Thou shall not's but as a love letter written to you. 

Hear the song played in the night and think upon how glorious is music and you can accredit it to men or you can accredit it to the God who made men and who has inspired us to create. 

Our God lavishes beauty all around us. Sometimes we are so busy that we don't even see it. Sometimes we have gotten so used to it that we have lost the sense of wonder.  

Ahh .... to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. Perhaps the psalmist was on to something. 

I wonder if rather than trying to change ourselves that if we were you to spend time in the Lord's presence that his presence would begin to change us. 

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I lay down my striving, all my efforts to try and be good enough and I come to gaze upon your beauty. I desire to know you more, not for what you can do for me. Help me to enjoy your presense. I will trust that in your time you will transform my life in ways I can not currently even imagine.