When we know God is our portion, when we rest in His sovereign control over all things, when we understand nothing comes into our lives except by the hand of a loving God, then we can avoid the temptation and the trap of rooting beauty in the stuff of life. For we know, if beauty is found in changing things, our experience of contentment will ever change. When life is good, joyful, happy, and successful our contentment will be intact. But when the shipwreck comes, when the avalanche lands on top of you, when life opens up and swallows you whole, you will be devastated. But, if beauty is found in our unchanging God, then nothing on earth and no power of hell can ever move us, shake us, or break us. 

A rather strange concept among the children of men is that beauty can and must be found in pain as well as pleasure. This behavior seems almost inconcevable to the worldly man, who ascribes beauty in the most lopsided ways. For instance, a carnal person will generously admit how a picturesque sunrise, a looming snow-capped mountain, an attractive woman, or a well-written play are all filled with a kind of beauty. But, it is my experience, that only a Christian is equipped to call the cancers of this life beautiful, or the poverty altogether lovely. It is the Christian who can endure the loathsome trial with all joy and the frowning providence of God as a true delight.

And while this may seem a bit mental, the Psalms will help us understand how.

Whole Life Beauty

In the 16th Psalm, David says the following in verses 5 & 6:

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

In this short passage, we learn 4 important truths that contribute to the Christian’s understanding of beauty and contentment.

Truth 1: The Lord is Our Portion

David begins this verse by reminding believers that the Lord is our portion. No matter what circumstances befall us, or what meals and drink we put to our lips, or what lands or houses we accumulate in our portfolios, the Lord is the true inheritance of every believer. This stands in clear distinction to the unbeliever, who gathers property and possessions like ants gather dirt, but still experiences multiplied sorrows from bartering the one true God for idols made with hands (Psalm 16:4). The psalmist is graciously pulling back the veil of reality for us to see the point of human living.

Think about it, if our inheritance is money or property value, our mood will fluctuate commensurate with the ebb and flow of the markets. Won’t such a fickle proposition end up producing a multiplication of sorrows? Or what if our portion comes from physical strength or sex appeal, wont our experience in life sag pitifully down into despair whenever wrinkles, white hairs, and calories collect in the gut? Of course, it will.

The simple and unavoidable point is that the human experience of temperament is directly tied to whatever we find beautiful. If the affections are affixed upon temporal things that dull and die, human experience in life will look more like an electrocardiogram than what David is setting forward here. But, if the believer will take note of what David is saying, and understand that God Himself is our portion, what could ever sour our disposition?

If the markets are up, our joy still comes from the Lord. If a great depression should overtake the land, the sound of Christian hymn-singing shall still overpower the shrieking cries of broken-hearted heathens, because our experience is rooted in the beauty of God and not on a fallen world. Indeed, physical attractiveness, relationships, health, wealth, the sovereignty of nations, and worldly inheritances will fail. Moth and rust will claim them all. But the Christian who understands this passage will never wail, because they have become enamored with their beautiful radiant God.

Truth 2: The Lord Reigns Over Randomness

A second truth we must consider, along with God being our most precious portion, is that no event is random in the hand of God. While the world casts the lot, supposing chance and superstition can override providence, the Christian understands that everything – both the good and the ill – comes from the wise hand of the Almighty (Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 45:7).

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