The beauty of God is almost impossible for me to describe with words. The Grand Canyon at sunset, a newborn baby sleeping, a waterfall in the mountains -- these are all beautiful things of which I could write paragraphs, but the beauty of God is so far beyond anything we could imagine, that I struggle deeply to illustrate its awe-inspiring depth to others.
The song How Beautiful was born out of a desire to reach within ourselves and express the beauty of God. It is a beauty not concerned with any visual aesthetic -- it is so much deeper! Perhaps that’s why, for centuries, artists have struggled to portray it. How can we possibly paint a portrait of beauty unseen?
I imagine the prophet Isaiah asked himself this question after his vision the year King Uzziah died. It’s easy to glaze over the verses (as I have before) and not really stop to think about what he’s saying. In Isaiah 6:1 he says plainly, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” Isaiah saw the Lord, on his throne. I love that Isaiah chooses to give us a little lesson on the size relationship between us and God. The train of God’s robe was barely contained within the temple!
More beautiful and powerful than even the glories of heaven is God's pure, unadulterated love.
My favorite part is verse 4. In verse 3, Isaiah says the angels were singing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Then in verse 4 he tells us that the singing is so loud from the angels that it shakes the posts next to him and fills the room with smoke!
Our God is spectacular!
And yet, He abandoned all that. The song How Beautiful focuses squarely on how this awe-inspiring God humiliated Himself on our behalf. He was “freely ruined.” He “willingly died.” In fact, He subjected Himself to a brutal -- ugly -- death. No one forced Him to leave his throne. He did it of his own design and will.
Why?
Because of love. More beautiful and powerful than even the glories of heaven is God’s pure, unadulterated love. His heart is so pure, His love so powerful, that not even death itself could hold Him. How do we even respond to that kind of love?
We love Him in return. As Jesus gave Himself for us, we have the wonderful privilege to give ourselves to Him. We surrender to His will and to His love and are welcomed into wonderful fellowship with Him. This place of fellowship is the source of our greatest joy as created beings. To be reunited in fellowship with our Creator is just the beginning of our eternal experience of fellowship with Him.
Just as the angels sang so loudly that the sound shook the very foundations of the temple, the bridge of this song seeks to shout to our God in recognition of His holiness. We glorify God to the best of our abilities. We sing praises to Him at the top of our lungs because of His infinite goodness.
I hope and pray that this song draws you into His throne room. Join us in singing from the top of your lungs! We’re simply practicing now for what, one day, will be praise that echoes in His holy temple and shakes the very frame of heaven from its volume!
