Confession time…I was staring the other day. I know I shouldn’t stare. My parents raised me better than that. But I couldn’t get my eyes off this woman.
Stop. I know what you’re thinking. That’s not why I was staring. I was staring at something else.
My staring can be best explained by a text, Psalm 90:17. Moses wrote Psalm 90 from the wilderness wanderings. He lamented where they were at and asked God to bless them moving forward. He ends the Psalm in verse 17 with these words, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”
The word “favor” is also used in Psalm 27:4 and can be translated “beauty.” Which means that Moses was asking for God’s beauty to come down and rest upon us so that the things we are called to do (the work of our hands) may prosper.
Which brings me back to this woman. I realized I was seeing God’s beauty. I was watching, check that, staring at a woman who was doing what God had called her to do. And in that moment when I could not get my eyes off of her, she had everything going in the right direction. Everything was flowing. Everything was in sync. In that moment I saw a mixture of worship, gifting and passion. I was watching a reflection of God’s beauty.
She was doing what she loved. God had gifted her to do it. It was worshipful. And I was mesmerized.
It makes me think, I wonder what it would have been like to watch, check that, stare at Jesus. If this woman was revealing God’s beauty, how much more of God’s beauty would have been seen through Jesus! He definitely had that perfect mixture of worship, gifting and passion. Oh to see Him in action!
I wonder if I reveal God’s beauty? When are those times when God’s beauty is resting on me for others to see? And how can my actions be in tune with God so that others see His beauty more?
And how can we as a church show off God’s beauty? I desperately want to see God’s beauty on us in such a way that confirms and prospers what He has called us to do. I want to see it, but not for our sake. No. I want others to see God’s beauty. I want others to come to faith and be His sons and daughters. I want others to come to God in prayer and desire with David, “I want to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.”
I guess I want to be stared at as well.
Of course, only for the right reasons.
Photo by Nick Stenning.
Pastor, that is a beautiful meditation. And believe me I see and sense the beauty of the love God has called us to every time I am among the loving community at First Church. The warmth, the caring the gentleness, the service, the joy. It's there, shining forth when we live in God's Spirit.
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