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Gaze Upon the Beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27:1~6, 13~14)

2026.08.30Dae Jin Ahn시편 27:1~6, 13~14

All beauty comes from God. As we dwell in his presence and gaze on his beauty, we see that we are beautiful, because he created us in his image and Jesus' cross made us more beautiful.

Why do people long to be beautiful?

Many visitors to Korea look forward to K-beauty skincare treatments and trips to Olive Young. People want to become more beautiful for two reasons: beauty attracts, and beauty gives confidence. When we feel beautiful, we walk, talk and act differently, and we stop worrying about what others think. Aristotle said beauty is order, symmetry and definiteness. Plato said beauty is a spiritual reality, since this world is a flawed copy of a higher one. The preacher's own view is that beauty is being most fully yourself. So how beautiful is your life? Some of us are doing well, while others are hurting. True beauty begins with God, not with ourselves.

David finds beauty even in terrible situations (1-4절)

God is the divine source of beauty, and everything beautiful on earth reflects his order, structure and symmetry. In Psalm 27, David confesses the Lord as his light, salvation and stronghold. Yet his situation is ugly: the wicked advance to devour him, an army besieges him, and war breaks out. These are the very situations that bring us to our knees. David still declares confidence because of the one thing he seeks, to dwell in the Lord's house and gaze on his beauty. Without God those endings would not change, but gazing on God shows him turning even these situations into a beautiful ending.

Our own standards of beauty will fade

We often misunderstand what a beautiful life is. Our standards come from ourselves, our friends and society: a family, a home, no suffering, and money to travel and enjoy luxuries. By that list, life never looks beautiful, because all these things fade. Chaos and suffering will come to an end, but God's splendor and glory are eternal. His light will shine through the darkness in your life. To see this we must first gaze on his beauty, or we stay stuck in our own standards. Gazing means coming into his presence, which depends on the state of the heart.

Come into his presence with a broken heart

Some people find it hard to turn to God, as if trapped by the chaos in their lives. The preacher cannot name the perfect conditions, but says it has much to do with the heart: what are we still holding higher than God? David confesses in Psalm 51:17 that God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. Many of us met God most deeply when we came broken. If we cannot break or humble ourselves, we should pray that God will do it and remove what fills our hearts. Then we are renewed by his beauty. Otherwise we take only quick glimpses, as the three picture quizzes showed. We could count four animals, 10 people and 38 youth, but with finite things a glimpse still fails, and God is infinite.

Set high on a rock, and seen by God (5-6절)

David says God will set him high upon a rock, with his head exalted above his enemies. Imagine a rock so high that you cannot see your problems at home, at work or in relationships, and it is only you and God. The longer we gaze on him, the more beautiful, gracious and awesome he proves to be. As we dwell in his presence, we see that he also gazes back at us. In God's eyes we are beautiful, because Genesis 1:27 says he created us in his own image. If God is beautiful, he created us beautiful. Trouble believing we are beautiful may mean we do not yet know how beautiful God is.

Jesus, our beautiful Savior, makes us more beautiful

The preacher enjoys gazing on his son Roy and sees his own reflection in him: the smile, the fake sneezes, the AB blood type. In the same way, God is overjoyed to look at us. At Jesus' baptism God said, 'This is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.' Jesus is perfect beauty. He is spiritual, as Plato described, and he brings order as Aristotle described, stilling chaos, healing the sick and raising the dead. This beautiful Savior gave himself to make us more beautiful. When we struggle to see our beauty, we look to the cross, the nail-pierced hands and the empty tomb. He died to preserve our beauty and to gaze on us for eternity, saying, 'This is my son, this is my daughter, whom I love.'

Apply to Life

  • Let us gaze on the beauty of the Lord and dwell in his presence through praise, prayer and his word, instead of taking quick glimpses.
  • Let us examine what in our hearts we hold higher than God, and humble ourselves before him, praying that he will break us and remove it if we cannot.
  • Let us stop measuring our lives by the standards of ourselves and society, and look to God, who makes all things beautiful.
  • Let us look to the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus when we struggle to see our own beauty.
  • Let us believe that God created us beautiful in his image, and live in confidence in the beauty we have in him.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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