In Psalm 27:4 King David candidly shares a particular request he has made of God:
One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: 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 meditate in His temple.
It’s a beautiful expression of desire for God, but it raises an important question: how do you gaze upon the beauty of the Lord? After all, the Bible also says that He is invisible (John 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:16) and that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20).
Colossians 1:15 tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, but David lived long before Christ was born. And in our day, we can only know Christ from what is written about him in the Bible.
I think that gazing upon the beauty of God happens through the convergence of three things: the Bible, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our sanctified and faith-filled imagination.
First, the Bible. It is the primary vehicle God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. It contains history, laws and precepts, poetry, prophecy, and theological instruction. Much of that is presented to us with vivid imagery and word pictures to help bring the spiritual dimension where God dwells to life in our three-dimensional human world.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit. We need Him to understand the Bible and interpret its imagery for us. That is precisely why Jesus sent Him after He ascended to heaven – so He could search the mind of God and bring what he sees there to us in understandable terms. He is our counselor, teacher, and guide.
Thirdly, our imagination. Human beings are the only creatures that possess it. We use it in all kinds of different ways, for good and bad. Artists form mental pictures of what they want to draw, sculpt or paint. When we read a book, we form pictures in our minds of what we read that instantly transport us into the world that is described to us in words. We imagine ourselves in certain jobs, roles, or circumstances before we strive to attain those.
On the other hand, we use our imagination to fantasize. Sexual fantasies, perhaps. Or daydreams of us being heroes every time we get put down or make a mistake and get embarrassed. Many of us have imaginary conversations with people just after we lost an argument with them. Of course, in that imaginary conversation, we win the argument. It’s how we process things we feel threatened by, or which seem to be out of reach.
God created us with imagination so He could work through it. However, Satan took hold of it when sin entered our human nature. It is not until we are born again and the Holy Spirit indwells us that our imagination can be brought back under God’s reign and put to use to help us see Him. After all, faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (NKJV)
So faith, made alive by the Holy Spirit, is a way of seeing the unseen God. Our imagination, led by the Holy Spirit, takes what the Bible tells us about God and converts it into mental images that move us, fuel our love for Him, and boost our confidence in Him. We imagine Him being in the pillar of fire and the column of smoke, or speaking to Moses in the burning bush. We see Him wrestling with Jacob. We gaze into heaven with Isaiah to see Him on His throne with the train of His robe filling the temple. We study what John saw in Revelation and are transported into the throne room where we see the throne made of jasper, surrounded by the glassy sea and adorned with a rainbow.
We cannot fully contain what we see about God and His many abstract qualities like holiness, glory, and majesty. But we can by our spirits made alive be attracted to them, delight in them, and consider them beautiful.
When we think about the many qualities and attributes of God we see in Scripture and use its imagery to form mental images of what God is like, we are gazing upon His beauty.
Gazing upon the beauty of the Lord is one of the highest forms of worship. Nothing glorifies Him more than us being enthralled by Him.
For that reason, echoing David’s prayer could be important for our spiritual growth. We need God’s help to set aside the distractions from the visible world, get alone with Him, meditate on Scripture, and see His beauty in everything we read there about God and Christ, the reflection of the Father. And since the Father is delighted by us delighting in Him when we gaze upon His beauty, He will help us.
When I read David’s prayer I was immediately filled with the desire to echo that prayer and learn how to gaze upon the beauty of the invisible God and deepen my joy in Him. I hope you are too! Offering our imagination up to the Holy Spirit to be sanctified and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord is one of the most important things you could ever ask for your soul.