The Beauty of Holiness: A Meditation on 1 Chronicles 16:29
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
1 Chronicles 16:29
As part of my Bible in 1 year plan I have been trying to read through the first book of Chronicles. It’s a bit of a struggle due to endless genealogies. Yesterday I was reading chapter 16; King David had just brought the ark of the covenant from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David. It had been housed in Obed-Edom’s house after Uzza, in all innocence reached out to help hold the ark when the oxen stumbled. Because he wasn’t a Levite and thus not permitted to touch the ark; God struck him dead, much to King David’s anger. After his initial rage, King David became afraid and refused to move the ark until he had erected a tent and built his City. The Levites carried the ark to its appointed home amidst a nationwide celebration and mass worship throughout all of Israel.
On that day David first delivered this psalm into the hand of Asaph and his brethren, to thank the LORD.
1 Chronicles 16:8
The full psalm can be read in 1 chronicles 16:8-36 , for now there is just one line in verse 29 I want to draw your attention to:
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
1 Chronicles 16:29
I would like you to just sit and meditate on that scripture for a few moments, as I have. I wonder what comes to mind for you. I would love for you to tell me in the comments below or you can contact me directly.
The Beauty of Holiness
Before I came to faith, had I have encountered Christians, I am certain that my opinion of them would have been negative because my eyes weren’t open then. I would have felt ‘less than’ , perhaps their presence would have challenged my very existence!
But now I’m a Christian I can see and understand the beauty of holiness. Oh to be a person like Sarah was. The word says:
“Please listen! I know what a beautiful woman you are. So when the Egyptians see you, they will surely say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but keep you alive. Please say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and my life will be spared.”
Genesis 12:10-13
It wasn’t just her outward appearance that made Sarah beautiful. She was a woman of great faith. She is mentioned in the New Testament as having unfading beauty that comes from within because she, like other great women, had a gentle and quiet spirit, and obeyed (honoured, respected) her husband.
And that is what I imagine when I think of holiness being beautiful; a gentle and quiet person, in control of their actions. inner beauty comes from a kind heart; someone loving, serving,