Fear of the Lord

Could it be that we’ve not yet encountered a beauty that takes our breath away nor changes the way we view the world?

Many times people live their lives with bland normalcy, abandoned from any thrill of joy. Far too often people live their lives by punching a time clock of wasteful duty with no depth of meaning. Trying to discover significance through a mandate is much like trying to paint a canvas with no color. Any attachment to effort without wonder will leave you disillusioned to the true beauty that is hidden in every form of life.

What if the root of all wisdom was hidden in the beauty of all creation?

What if all that we are meant to be is determined by the lens that we look through?

There isn’t any more notable witness of this in my life than when I saw my wife for the first time. I remember what it was like to see her and the magnetic effect it had on my entire being. It was in the first glance that I saw something that inspired my curiosity. Who is she? Where is she from? What is her name? Would she even be interested in me? As I grew in my fascination it challenged every other desire in my life. For the first time, I wanted to abandon every other pursuit to have the chance to hold the beauty I beheld.

You know what I did when I found that kind of beauty? I didn’t let her go, I married myself to her.

I’ve come to understand that is what it means to be in awe of something truly beautiful. It’s like seeing the emerald ocean for the first time. It’s like flying over an immense mountain range feeling its enormity. It’s like seeing your child for the first time and feeling the rush of pure, other centered love. When you understand the awe that comes from beauty you are understanding what it means to have the fear of the Lord. True awe will captivate the workings of the inner man and transform us because of the surrender of beheld beauty.

What if we could come to understand “the fear of the Lord” as the reverential awe of infinite beauty?

Jesus is the image of infinite beauty. The perfect expression of a good Father. Jesus is the highest priority and blueprint for the cosmic order. Everything that you see that takes your breath away is just a whisper of His radiant power revealed in beauty. You are not separated from this kind of beauty, you are in fact, the masterpiece of His creation.

As David said, “One thing have I desired…” “That I may behold His beauty and inquire in His temple.”

What would it look like if we were able to behold the beauty of Jesus and beauty filled us with such wonder that it provoked a sensitivity to look more fully into the beauty all around and all that is within? Maybe the greatest paintings have yet to be painted. Maybe the greatest books have not yet been written. Maybe the song of all songs is still yet to be sung. Maybe we need to return to the simplicity of beauty to cause us to create from more vibrant colors than the world has yet to see.

Let’s rebel against the fast-paced, hurried approach of manufactured plainness. Let’s turn back to the fear of the Lord; the reverential awe of infinite beauty. Let’s set our heart for, “eye has not seen nor ear heard what is in the heart of God’s lovers.”