Zechariah 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. The last words of Charles Kingsley were, "How beautiful is God!" Zechariah was thinking of the glory about to be given to Israel, about the prosperity soon to abound in the land, and he knows that it is all the good gift of God, so he cries, "How great is His goodness! How great is His beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." Wise men who have thought about the nature of God have always said that there must be three perfect things in God. There must be perfect truth, perfect goodness, and perfect beauty. By remembering this you may always tell the difference between true and false ideas about God. Every man and every child who worships a God about whom he has hard, cruel thoughts, although a Christian in name, gives only heathen worship to the Most High. All through the Bible God has been teaching men that He is beautiful. The Jews were taught to make their worship beautiful. At last Christ came. He did not seem to bring beauty down to man at once. The word "beauty" is never mentioned in the New Testament. But this was because Christ wanted men to look deeper for beauty than on the face and form. The beauty which Christ brought was beauty of the soul, of the heart, of the life, spiritual beauty which will never fade away with age, will never wither or decay. Here in our flowers today can we not try to see the beauty of God? They teach that His beauty is perfect in little things as well as in great. The tiniest flower is as perfect as the large. And the beauty is not for mere show, but for comfort and use. How often a flower teaches people about God! I have read of a poor sinful woman pressing a white flower to her heart in an agony of tears, because it came to her like the voice of God, telling of His wish for her to be pure and bright. We would like to reveal God to those around us. If so, let us be God's flowers. Aim at three things in order that we may accomplish this our high task. 1. Let us have the beauty of worship. 2. Beauty of worship must lead to beauty of life. 3. All this will grow into beauty of character.This is the beauty that lasts forever. To get this will take time. All the best things take time. (H. H. Gowen.) Parallel Verses KJV: For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids. |
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