How a Fly helped me notice the Beauty of God

Many years ago a king, who was a bit of a poet, penned these lines:

‘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.’ (Ps 27: 4)

We all know what ‘seeking’ means, right? —intentionally looking for something.  King David here has made a choice to continually approach God in prayer and worship, asking for help and guidance. He wants to live in his house—to dwell in the house of the Lord.

But what about gazing upon his beauty? What does that mean? How does a person gaze upon the beauty of an invisible God?

I sat by the window at the front of my house and looked out. The cordylines on the other side of the glass paraded their magnificent leaves. After studying them for a while, I refocused my eyes to bushland on the other side of the road with its plethora of shapes and hues of brown and green. The sun had risen an hour before and shafts of light were beginning to break through the gaps between branches and trees.

At that moment, a fly distracted me, and I thought about reaching for the fly spray. But I stopped myself when I caught sight of the intricate designs on his wings. I became quite fascinated by their beauty and complexity.

A car drove by and I started to marvel about how God has gifted human beings with the ability to imagine, design and create complex things too. A dog took its owner for a walk (which made me smile) and the clouds synchronised to form another masterpiece in the sky.

In just a few minutes, God had been with me in the sights and the sounds, in the warmth of the sun and in my imagination.

And in the wings of a fly.

Is this what it means to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord?

I found myself talking out loud. I guess you would call it praying. I told God what I liked in the scene in front of me, and I was thankful for the beauty in the details. I even talked to him about how cool and amazing the fly’s wings were, and I started to picture myself sitting in his presence - at peace. In the place of healing, restoration, where the light is pure, penetrating everything and yet warm with love. I was like a child, sitting on the floor, an arm’s reach from his father, happy and content.

I don’t know if any of this held any similarities to David’s thoughts as he imagined gazing on the beauty of the Lord in Psalm 27, but one thing was certain: Like David, the more I stopped to ponder God’s love and greatness through his creation, the more I wanted to be there in his presence. And the more I wanted to put down roots and dwell there, all the days of my life.

Maybe this is why David, at the end of the psalm, can declare, boldly ‘I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’ (Ps 27: 13).

……….

Keep noticing the beauty of God

Sometimes, the simplest moments can draw us closer to God. A shaft of sunlight, the intricacy of a tiny creature or the sounds of the world around us can become invitations to pause, give thanks and rest in his presence.

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