I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. (Psalm 63:2)
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
David, one of ancient Israel’s greatest kings and a person described as, “A man after God’s own heart,” saw glimpses of God’s glory that absolutely ruined him. By that I mean he encountered something of God’s majesty and beauty that conquered his heart and left him with a life-long yearning to experience more.
This is why you and I were created—to see and savor the glory of God. In Isaiah 43:6-7, God bluntly declares, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
You and I were made for more than the American dream. We were made for more than working a job, raising a nice family, buying a great house complete with a large screen HD plasma TV and having a secure retirement. We were made for majesty. We were created for nothing less than God’s glory.
The night before he was crucified, Jesus prayed for this very thing. “Father, I want [desire, long for] those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (John 17:24).
Then, just a few verses later, Jesus added to this prayer the most incredible thing. He not only prayed that we would see His glory, but that we would treasure it with the very love, enjoyment and delight that God the Father has! “I [Jesus] have made you [the Father] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:26).
As followers of Christ, we were made to behold the blinding beauty and stunning goodness of the uncreated Son of God, and then to treasure it with the very affections of the infinite, uncreated God! This is why we were created. Maybe that’s why we are so easily bored (see earlier post). We’re trying to fill up this God-created longing for His glory with things that can never possibly satisfy.
A Prayer
Heavenly Father, when I think of why you created humanity, I am deeply in awe. You did not create us out of some lack or need on your part. You were not lonely. You did not need anything. Rather out of an overflow of infinite joy and love that exists within your presence, you formed us. You created us for more than an impersonal “Plan of salvation,” or even to know cold, hard facts about you. You made us to see and savor your glorious majesty and indescribable splendor. I want to be like David. I want to see glimpses of your beauty that conquer my heart and sets my life on a pursuit of seeking you every day. Thank you that one day, we will see the blinding, brilliance of your glory in your Son, Jesus Christ. And we will also love Your Son with the same infinite affection and enjoyment that You have. Until then, may your Holy Spirit and your precious word work together in our hearts so that we may behold glimpses of what you are really like.
