Beautiful Holy

I always have a focal verse each month. As one month comes to an end, I look forward to God revealing to me His next Word for me.

 And when I saw this month's verse, Psalm 93:5, I was consumed. Still am.

 I read it first in The Message, and this is what the psalmist wrote to God:

 "What you say goes--it always has. "Beauty" and "Holy" mark your palace rule, GOD, to the very end of time.

 Beauty. Holy.

 Maybe you've never thought about those two words together before. So let's look at them together.

 Holiness refers to God's otherness, apartness, sacredness, separateness. It points to everything that makes Him not like us. His perfection, His power, His love, and His omniscience make Him holy. The Hebrew word (something like qodesh) is used 519 times in the Old Testament, all of them describing God or things set apart to God.

 Beauty in Psalm 93:5 is actually a verb that means "to be beautiful" or "to be befitting." The oldest form of the word seems to carry the meaning of being still, being at home, and being stable.

 So now let's look at a few more translations of that verse, with my favorite phrases in bold:

 NKJV: "Your testimonies are very sure; holiness adorns Your house, O Lord, forevermore."

 AMPC: "Your testimonies are very sure; holiness [apparent in separation from sin, with simple trust and hearty obedience] is becoming to Your house, O Lord, forever."

 CEB: "Your laws are so faithful. Holiness decorates your house, Lord, for all time."

 NASB: "Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore."

 I dare you to dwell on those words for a month.

 Here's what I'm learning: God's holiness is gorgeous. The things about Him that we find most consuming are also the things that remind us that He is God; we are not. 

 You really should read the four verses of Psalm 93 that come before it:
The Lord reigns! He is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed, enveloped in strength.
The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken.
Your throne has been established from the beginning; you are from eternity.
The floods have lifted up, Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their pounding waves.
Greater than the roar of a huge torrent--the mighty breakers of the sea--
the Lord on high is majestic.
(Christian Standard Bible)

 Holy, holy, holy. 

 Bigger than anything--any storm, any flood, any power--GOD IS HOLY. And that holiness is so beautiful.

 Bear with me for one more Hebrew word from Psalm 93:5; it may just blow your mind.

 "Your testimonies are very sure; holiness adorns Your house..."

 That word for house, something like bayith, means house, household, and family. But look at the very first time this word appears in Scripture:

 "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms and shall cover it inside and out with pitch," (Genesis 6:14). 

 The same word for the place where God's beautiful holiness dwells is the same word used for the inside of the ark: the pitch-covered ark that saved just a few people from a sinful world.

 Jesus us our ark. He is the One who saved us from the sin that would swallow us. He is the One whose holiness could make us alive in the face of death. He is the only way into God's household, God's family.

 And Jesus is holy. Fully human while fully God, we can stand amazed at His ability to live in this world and yet keep His focus perfectly on His Father and His purpose. 

 Maybe you don't love your holiness. Maybe you don't relish being different, set apart, or not-like-them. But friend that's your calling: to be a weirdo. 

 Maybe you don't see any beauty in yourself, your life, or the world. But have you considered that your beauty is found in your uniqueness and your calling and your identity in God Himself?

 Maybe you don't feel like part of God's household, but if you believe Jesus is who He said He is, you are. Stop looking at what you don't have; look at who called you, adopted you, loved you, blessed you, bought you back, and leads you even today.

 I'm not done with this one, simple verse. Or, maybe I should say, this verse isn't done with me. Come dig into it with me.

 Love all of you,
Leslie

 @leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com








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