The reason I desire the eyes to see the beauty of the Lord, not only for myself, but for you as well, is because I am convinced that it is this ability to see that drove the saints on through their lives, throughout Scripture. I asked right near the start of this series, what it was that drove them so. Moses could see Him who is invisible. I believe that what drove him with such forceful resolve, day after day, was the arresting beauty of God. If you do not see God, as Scripture describes Him, as beautiful, then how do you see Him? How compelling is He to you? If He is an unreasonable old man in your mind, how motivated are you to sacrifice everything for Him?

Notice how David continues his psalm (Psalm 27:5). He says that in the day of trouble, God will keep him safe in His dwelling. He will hide him in the shelter of His tabernacle and set him high on a rock. Obviously, David is not going to actually take up residence in the tabernacle. Yet his mind is so taken up with the fact that God is here; God is actually living here in this place (Consider Jacob’s discovery of this in Genesis 28:16). In fact, God is not only living here in this place, but God is present in every place (See David’s thoughts in Psalm 139). God’s presence to David is surrounding, enveloping, caressing, comforting, touching, thrilling. He can be in the thick of battle, yet not one sword can penetrate the powerful presence of God and His kind, protecting intentions toward David.

It is this thought, being overwhelmed by the beauty of God in these demonstrations of real protection, an expression of the intentions of His heart, that elevates David to a point where he knows he is safe in a cocoon of God’s intimate care. Like a mother cares for her newborn baby, so the LORD is caring for him. As that mother lavishes every kindness upon her child, so the LORD lavishes kindness upon him. As the mother, and her intentions, are kind, desirable and beautiful, so God is kind, desirable and beautiful. In fact, God is even compared to a mother, comforting her child (Isaiah 66:13 and Paul too in 1 Thessalonians 2:7).

Regardless of where David is, he is aware that God is looking after him kindly and tenderly in that way. As he looks up, like a child into his mother’s eyes, so David looks, gazes at the beauty of his God.