GOD'S BEAUTY UPON HIS PEOPLE
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"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us!" Psalm 90:17
When I read these wonderful words this morning, there came to me, quick as a lightning flash, the solemn question, "O my soul, is this beauty now resting on you, and on all your daily life?" Alas! there was no reply by speech or voice; but a bowed head, and silent lips, and the inward sighing of a convicted, yet penitent heart — gave the only possible answer.
Then I sat down before the Lord, wondering and ashamed, and the multitude of my thoughts within me took form and fashion thus: Father, You know that I covet earnestly theloveliness of sanctification, I would gladly obey Your command to be holy; and if longings after complete surrender to You would avail to secure this special grace — I would possess it. What is it that so constantly defeats my purpose, and foils my efforts, and prevents the fulfillment of my most devout desire?
Dear Master, if Your will concerning me is my sanctification, why is not that will more absolutely done in me? Can it be that I am unconsciously cherishing something in my heart that hinders the work of Your Holy Spirit, and so the blessing You have designed for me does not reach me, because the way is barred by a will not wholly yielded to Yours? Or have I been satisfying myself with mere empty desires after conformity to Christ, indulging in poor feeble longings in which there was so much half-heartedness, that the Spirit of God was grieved, and would not reveal His power?
O Lord, pity me — and pardon me! Awaken my soul to an earnest sense of the solemn responsibility involved in belonging to You, and bearing Your Name! Rouse in me, Lord, a blessed eagerness to become all that You wish me to be! Fill me with that mighty influence which works in us "both to will and to do" of Your good pleasure! Yes, chasten and afflict me, Lord — if nothing else will serve to make me a partaker of Your holiness!
"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." Dear Father, I must have this blessing. Help me to pray the marvelous prayer intelligently, remembering at what an awful cost You have secured to me an answer, and glorifying You for the matchless love which makes me —
"With His spotless vesture on,
As Holy as the Holy One!"
What has God wrought! I can see, only too plainly, the ugliness and deformity which sin has worked in my nature, and the havoc it has made among all the creatures whom God had formed for Himself. If it had not been for this heinous thing, sin — we would have borne "the image of God" even now. Does the lily plead for its whiteness, or the tree for its lovely foliage, or the sun for his splendor? Nay, they are as God made them; they have kept their first estate, and are still "very good"; but man, sinful man, has fallen, and he who was made in the likeness of God is defaced and disfigured by the evil within.
Ah! dear Lord, when You give us a sight of our own evil heart — we are overwhelmed with horror, and would soon be driven to despair, did You not at once turn our eyes to that wondrous hill of Calvary, where One "altogether lovely" made the great Atonement which brought us back to You! That precious blood, which cleanses us from all sin, restores to us the beauty which that sin has forfeited; its royal purple not only covers our disfigurement, but removes it, and bestows upon us the loveliness which the Lord looks on with pleasure.
O soul of mine, do you not desire above all things that this "beauty of holiness" may be your glorious dress? Then you must keep very close to the Master, shutting the door of your heart to every evil thing, and opening it wide to the incoming of His Holy Spirit, who, in revealing Christ to you — will make you like Him.
An old fable tells how a piece of common clay became sweetly scented by close contact with a fragrant rose. The fable will be a blessed fact in your experience — if the Rose of Sharon blooms in your heart, and sheds its fragrance around your life.
"Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty," yes, may God grant it; but the condition is thus expressed, "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
Everlasting praises be to the Well-beloved of our soul, that His perfect righteousness covers us now; and also in the day when He shall bring us home to His Father's house, and shall present us "before His glorious presence — without fault and with great joy!" Jude 1:24
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