Beholding God’s Beauty

In the middle of my daily prayer just before my bible reading, I felt God’s gentle hand stop me. Each day, as I open scripture, I ask for “eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive,” all God has for me not only in the passage but within my day. But on this particular day, God moved to change a word in my prayer. The change not only refreshed my soul but positioned me for beholding God’s beauty.

While maintaining my habit of reading through the bible every year, the last two years I began the year with a slow, reflectional reading of Psalm 119, focusing my heart on esteeming God’s Word above all else for the coming year.

Beholding God’s beauty within His Word, nourishes my soul while binding my heart more intimately with His.

But until my prayer of approach changed, my seeing, hearing, and receiving remained more intellectual than relational. My tendency towards doctrinal understanding, kept me from a more intimate engagement with God the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

beholding is more than seeing

A casual glance may lead you to think behold is simply an old word for expressing to see or look. Yet the elegance of the word behold also nuances a depth of seeing.

By altering my prayer from seeking “eyes to see” to desiring “eyes which behold”, God invited me into a space where my sight became a door to His heart.

As much as you desire to be seen, heard, and known by others, God desires to be seen, heard, and deeply known by you as His beloved child.

Beholding freed me from a place of striving for understanding, answers, or endless questioning. Instead, I rested in God’s Presence, learning to discover the beauty already there for me.

My questions and desire for knowledge remained, but they were no longer the driving force or end-all of my time with God.

“Beholding is the practice of gazing into God, gazing into us, gazing back into Him.”

Strahan Coleman

Beholding God involves a depth of seeing in order to know; but not only to know God, but seeing to know ourselves through His eyes.

behold the lamb

As we begin the Lenten season, my heart shifts to a longing for a slower, reflective pace in my bible reading and study, but also in my daily walk with God. Lent invites us to behold anew God’s grace.

Considering God’s invitation into a space of beholding, I created a new Lenten Resource, “Behold the Lamb!” I invite you into the same beholding space, to walk with Jesus to the cross in a reflective, beholding way.

Behold the Lamb is an invitation to deeper intimacy with Jesus. Through 40 names of Jesus, I invite you into a life of beholding this Lenten season.

Experience the profound intimacy of staring into the eyes of God, as He gazes into yours with His unfailing love.

This new Devotional is FREE and located in my Resource Library for immediate download for all members of my Serenity in Suffering Compassionate Community. If you are not yet a member, sign up below for full access to all my resources, newsletters, and personal connection today!

beholding as a way of grace

The way of beholding transformed my prayer of approach to “may I have eyes to behold You more fully, ears to hear Your voice in each moment, and a heart truly delighted to receive all from Your hand today, both in the scriptures and within my daily pilgrimage.”

Beholding taught me acceptance of a slower pace within my day, as I welcome the ordinariness of each day’s repetitive tasks. Yet it also invited me to seek God’s face in the people I meet.

Ultimately embracing beholding as a sweet invitation to the way of Grace. This Lenten season, consider the way of beholding.

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