A few years ago, some ladies and I put together a retreat for a group of High School girls. The topic was beauty. Over the course of the weekend, we had breakout sessions on how to be beautiful as daughters of the King. My topic for breakout sessions was "Spiritual Beauty," and I think I was more blessed by my study than the girls to whom I spoke during the sessions.
In my personal Bible study and preparation for the weekend, I came across Psalm 139. Until this time in my life, this was one of those psalms that I had read...but I had not really focused on. Yes, there were key verses (vs.13-14, in particular) that I had always liked and remembered, but I had not really meditated on the psalm as a whole. Until now. As I sat and spoke with small groups of some of the most beautiful (inside and out) girls you will ever meet, tears came to my eyes. There we were sitting out on the deck of a beautiful lodge surrounded by God's creation talking about beauty. I tried to give examples of women in my life who were and are spiritually beautiful.
* Women like Mrs. Lisa Key: a wife, mother, teacher, daughter of our King. I never had the opportunity to have Mrs. Key as a high school teacher due to transferring schools, but I was blessed to have her as a teacher at Horizons during the summers. She was beautiful. The world lost a beautiful person to cancer when she died, but I know she is in a huge mansion in Heaven with our Lord. (I can make these same comments a few years later about Mrs. Hope Shull).
* Women like my sister, Rachel. The first time my sister went to Haiti with my dad and me, she saw a need. She postponed her senior year of college and moved to Haiti for a year to help our missionary there. She has always been one of my heroes. (I don't know if I have ever told her that.)
* Women like my mother who raised 5 children. I have never met a more selfless, patient, kind and caring lady. She has one of the most tender hearts and the love she has for our Lord is evident in every aspect of her life.
(Since this time, I have added so many people to this list of amazing Christian examples. God has blessed my life in so many ways by the people He put in it!)
I had the girls give their examples of what Spiritual Beauty is, and we talked about what we could do in our lives to have this kind of spiritual beauty. As we finished our discussion we read Psalm 139.
There are many people who might think I'm crazy for using this psalm in a discussion about spiritual beauty, but I would like to ask you to read and meditate on this passage for a few minutes. Pray this as a prayer. Does it scare you that He knows your thoughts and words before you do (vs. 2-6)? Does it scare you that you can never escape His omnipresence (vs. 7-12)? Does it bring alarm that He can search the innermost feelings and thoughts of your heart? Or, does it bring peace. As Christians, we should strive for such a strong spiritual beauty. We should strive for such a pure heart that allows us to pray this prayer and genuinely mean it. We should strive for a heart that can pray this prayer with an earnest longing for God to lead us closer to Him.
I believe when I can do that, I will be one step closer to being spiritually beautiful!
Psalm 139
English Standard Version (ESV)
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
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