Psalm 45

I recently read Psalm 45 in my Bible reading, and it got me thinking. Allow me to draw some parallels to apostolic fashion from this chapter in the Word of God.

Psalm 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord and worship thou Him.

Psalm 45:13 The king's daughter is all glorious within...

Verse 11 talks about how the king (aka God) desires our beauty! May I draw your attention to three different verses that discuss beauty...

1 Chronicles 16:29 ... Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
Psalm 29:2 ... Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
Psalm 69:9 worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness...

Holiness is beautiful!!!! Thank the Lord - that's the only chance some of us have to be beautiful! (only kidding). When we receive the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues, we have the Holy Ghost working in our lives, making us holy! We cannot be holy on our own - wearing a dress and doing your hair the apostolic way will not make you holy. Only the Holy Ghost can do that! I am reminded of that old song, "Jesus on the inside, working on the outside, oh what a change in my life!"

God desires us to be holy! Psalm 34:11 says the king greatly desires our beauty (the beauty of holiness). The reason why we should be holy? "For He is thy Lord." and then it gives us a command, "worship thou Him." The three verses that discuss "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" make me think that holiness coupled with worship is pretty important to God. In fact, I have always thought of worship and holiness together being beautiful to God. When we worship Him with a holy heart, He flat out LOVES it!

Psalm 45:13 says that the king's daughter is all glorious within. This tells me that the princess is not simply beautiful on the outside - she is a glorious person on the inside as well! Sometimes we focus so much on looking just right on the outside that we forget about being glorious inside. Let me encourage everyone (including myself) to work on being glorious inside. A glorious-within kind of woman (in my mind) is like the Proverbs 31 woman (who just really amazes me - how does she do all that stuff????) as well as bearing the Fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, patience). Next time you're getting all spiffed up for church or a special date night, or maybe just going to the grocery store, remember to put on your glorious inside, as well as your glorious outside! And ask the Lord for help with being glorious inside - if anyone can make you glorious, if would be the King of Glory!

With love to my glorious/beautiful sisters,
A.F.