Paintings and our mental depictions of God vary. At times he looks like Moses coming off the mountain giving us giving us rules to live by. At times he is portrayed as the soft daddy cuddling his arms around us as his children loving and forgiving us. Maybe we see him as a wise prophet, “the man upstairs” orchestrating events around the world.
I remember the first time I drove into the Yosemite Valley. I parked my car, got out and just stared. It was so grand, majestic, and beautiful I could not comprehend it, I could not absorb it. That night the sky was an absolute black background filled with countless stars. You could actually see a dense line that made up the Milky Way Galaxy. It was absolutely immense and beautiful. My mind could not comprehend what my eyes were taking in.
Psalm 27:4 reads:
“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
In the 8th verse it says: “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
I have no idea what it will be like to seek the face of God, to “gaze on the beauty of the Lord.” Can you imagine seeing God’s face? Or gazing upon his beauty? I don’t think our finite minds can even get close to this.
No matter what our views of the God are, how we see him, one feature to not miss is his beauty. We can’t limit him to our human definitions or perceptions. One theologian aptly said: “we can’t comprehend God, we can only apprehend him”. His beauty and face will be something to gaze at for an eternity. I suppose it will take that long to come close to absorbing it!
Barnabas Man 