“Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.” Psalm 96:9
One day I visited a prayer meeting for a little while and saw the most beautiful man I have almost ever seen. He came in a little after the start of the meeting, and he was tall, dark-skinned, and looked from a distance anyway to be very muscular and fit. He was dressed nicely, and though I couldn’t see his face, I knew without a shadow of doubt he was absolutely beautiful. Not because of the way he looked, mind you, but because of what he did. I’ve seen plenty of good looking men over the years, and even as I’ve chosen a single-on-purpose life to be available to the maximum to the Lord and for ministry, I still notice a good looking man. But what I saw in this man was simply stunning, I confess.
He went straight up to the front of the large church sanctuary, walked right up to the altar, bent down quickly on his knees, lay his body prostate over the incline of steps, and began to pray to the Lord God almighty in the name of Jesus. I didn’t hear a sound of what he spoke to God. I was a good distance away, and he may have been totally silent for all I knew. I figured he would pray for a few minutes and get up from the ground. But he never stood the whole time I was there. For at least 25 or 30 minutes straight, he humbly cried out to the Lord in prayer to Him, beseeching God for whatever lay heavily on his heart.
The way we look on the outside fades away over time, and no matter how handsome a man may be or pretty a woman may be, there is no beauty like the beauty of a heart on fire for the Lord, like the beauty of a heart humbled before God almighty, of a heart surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, of a heart crying out to God, to the Lord, to the King of Kings. In a culture in which tall, dark, handsome, muscular men are considered so very handsome, and in which outward appearances is so very important in the eyes of this world, how awesome the Lord blessed me that day with seeing one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. Clearly the man wasn’t concerned with what others thought of him. He concerned himself with the Lord. He was consumed with Jesus. There was nothing more important to him in that period of time than to lie down on the steps of a church altar and cry out to God. How beautiful to witness a heart aflame for Jesus. Of a life consecrated to God. Of a man whose beauty ultimately had nothing to do with his physical appearance but had everything to do with his heart.
Should our beauty be in the outward appearance the world sees when people look at us, should that be our ultimate goal in beauty, or should our beauty lie in the fact we are willing no matter what people think of us to lay down on the ground before God almighty and cry out to Jesus?
May your heart and mine, may your life and mine, may the beauty of our hearts and lives be in how we humble ourselves before God almighty and cry out to the Lord in love, in praise, in worship, in adoration, in desperation, in prayer, in longing, in hunger, in thirst, in desire, in repentance, in intercession for others, in seeking His face, His very presence, in crying out for wisdom and direction, in pursuit of His fellowship now and forevermore, Amen!