Beauty. Esther and Psalms 24:7

Hello, hello!    

Today, let's have a little talk about beauty.  I'll say it more clearly.  Hi girls!  ;)  This post is going to mean more to you.  

How bout a look at the story of Esther?  That deals with beauty, right?  This has to be one of my better ideas I've had today.  But we're going to have to talk about Vashti too.  Sorry.

A drunk Xerxes holding a big shabang "commanded... to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at." (Esther 1:beginning of 10, 11) 

Well.  That doesn't sound very great to me.  If all her beauty did for her was to be shown off to a bunch of drunk men... no thank you. Then, Xerxes dumped Vashti, his queen, for being stubborn and not wanting to entertain drunk men.  That accomplished alot.  


But, I might say as we continue the story, "good" things can also be given to those who have beauty.  On to Esther!  Once she was chosen to appear before the king, "she pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food."   That sounds pretty great to me but what good did it do?  The story of Esther would be pretty boring and pointless if it was only about beauty. 

Recap:  Good things and bad things to those that have beauty.  There's no guarantees.  By itself, it's fickle.  

New question: Does God have beauty?  Have a look at Psalms 27:4

"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."

  This song of David is what I've been trying to work towards with this blog post.  I think it's pretty amazing - here's why.  The only, the singular thing the great King David wanted was to be with the LORD.  Specifically, "to gaze on the beauty of the LORD."   Why do we want beauty or beautiful things?  To make us happy.  But why should we want to be near God?  So that we may be given joy.   You and I have a choice.   We can pretend that fickle things will make us happy, or we can kneel at the base of the throne of God.  This is where we are guaranteed fulfillment.

The truth is, that's why we want beauty.  But in the pursuit of it, we've all been disappointed. The problem is that we still haven't been disillusioned.  We still live like beauty is a thing that must be obtained.  Believing otherwise is a daily battle.  Today, choose to be filled up by your Savior.  

-Sarah