As I thought more about longing for God by enjoying Him, I thought of His beauty. How can we not enjoy a God who is beautiful, attractive, pure, glorious, and filled with qualities that should only create a longing for Him, rather than repel us?

I’ve often thought about how beauty is deteremined. I think of an actress who is called beautiful, and I observe a person whose face is symmetrical and in alignment. There is order. One eye is not bigger than the other, nor is one eye farther up her face than another.

And that helps me think about God’s beauty. Because He is perfectly aligned in perfection, He has no spot or blemish. All His qualities (His love, gentleness, grace, mercy, justice, wrath, kindness), are all in proportion and complete. He is the ultimate of all good things. There is balance–and that explains that I used the word “wrath.” I have no trouble declaring that one of God’s qualities is wrath. He does get angry at sin and those things that mar His creation’s “goodness.” God said all He created was good but sin came about through our choice and spoiled it. It doesn’t ruin Him, but it does His creation. And His wrath is in conjunction with His justice and mercy. Everything is in harmony.

But when we distrust God, we’re believing lies about His beauty. We’re actually saying He’s not beautiful. We’re saying that something is “off”, “ugly”, or “disjointed.” His “right eye” is higher than His “left eye.” We’re distrusting His love or His grace or His kindness or His wrath. We’re saying He’s imperfect in His plan, responses, or His ways. When we feel afraid to long after Him by approaching Him, we’re afraid He’s really not beautiful. Nor does He have beautiful intentions for us.

That’s basically what persuaded Eve to turn from her Father. Satan questioned God’s good intentions for her, insinuating that God was withholding something from her. Something good, tasty, and attractive. She didn’t believe what God said when He declared it dangerous for her. She wanted what she wanted and feared she was missing out.

Just today, I received a FaceBook post from my friend, Joan C. Webb, from her book The Intentional Woman (a NavPress book which I highly recommend). She wrote, “Years ago, after I asked God to fill my cup (remember that song?), it seemed instead that He ate my lunch. As I saw my dreams fade away, I worked harder to hold on but eventually lost my grip. I wondered where God was and why He let it happen.