Dear Ones:
When I was ministering in France, we attended a Brethren church where, when one was led to pray, he would stand and pray. There was one dear brother whose name was Emile. He was a farmer, who ran the farm with his brother. Emile was a very godly man. He would, without exception that I know of, always begin his prayer by saying to God, “Je suis confondu.” (I am confounded, overwhelmed) Emile had a concept of God which brought him immediately to humility and worship. I have seen this a good many times in men and women of God. They enter into the presence of God to worship, and they are immediately overwhelmed by what they perceive, and see of the Lord.
It seems such a contradiction that the Lord Jesus is described as having, “…no form or comeliness: and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him…we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Is. 53:2-3) In His humanity there was not that which attracted us to Him, from a natural standpoint. And yet, so many were drawn to Him. Why? Because of a beauty that is not of this world, and yet all that is beautiful in this world was made by Him.
In Psalm 27:4, David declares that there was one thing that he desired of the Lord, and this he would seek after, “…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to BEHOLD THE BEAUTY of the Lord, and enquire in His temple.” Not only was there something captivating about beholding the Lord, but there was something transforming in that gaze. Paul puts it like this: “…But we all , with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18)
Moses goes so far as to pray, “…and let the BEAUTY of the Lord our God be upon us…” (Ps. 90:17) This beauty is very real, and tangible…to be seen and known. Frederick Faber wrote these applicable words in one of his great hymns: “How wonderful, how BEAUTIFUL, the sight of Thee must be, Thine endless wisdom, boundless power, and awful purity.”
Paul writes to the Corinthians, “…as it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath REVEALED them unto us by His Spirit.'” (2 Cor. 2:9-10) What must it be to truly SEE, and BEHOLD Him…in His word, and BY the Spirit? One thing is for sure, one cannot truly see Him in His beauty and not be changed. One day, when our eyes shall see Him, when our time on this earth is done, we shall be changed, we shall be like Him, for “…we shall see Him as He is…” So, what shall we do today? Most certainly we are to seek Him, as was David’s desire. And we are to pray, as Moses so clearly reveals us to do. And specifically, we are to pray, as Paul instructs us in prayer for ourselves and for others: “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, (may) give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Eph. 1:17) Only the Spirit knows the things of God, and only the Spirit of God can reveal them to us. It is by trusting the Father, and praying according to His will, that He will reveal Christ to us. We shall behold Him, howbeit “through a glass darkly,” and we shall changed by beholding. Then the world will “taste and see that the Lord IS good,” and some shall be drawn to Him.
Love, Dad