How can we behold the beauty of the Lord (Psalm 27:4)?

King David valued one thing more than anything else: God Himself. His heart for God expressed itself in daily longing to worship the Lord in His “house,” or “temple,” referring to God’s holy dwelling place. David asked for nothing except the privilege of being in God’s presence:
The word translated as “behold” in Psalm 27:4, alternately rendered “gaze upon” (ESV) and “gaze on” (NIV), means “to look, see, or perceive with attention; direct one’s gaze toward” in the original Hebrew. Beauty refers to “the qualities that give pleasure to the senses.” David’s experience of adoration involved “delighting in the Lord’s perfection” (Psalm 27:4, NLT). Being in God’s presence was beautiful to David because it “made him exceedingly glad” (see Psalm 21:6, NKJV).

Beauty is anything that brings pleasure to the one looking at it. The Bible highlights the beauty of God in all that He has created (Genesis 2:9; Job 26:13; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ezekiel 20:6). The Promised Land was “a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance” (Jeremiah 3:19). Jerusalem was called “beautiful” and “the perfection of beauty” (Isaiah 52:1; Lamentations 2:15). God’s beauty and His glory are intricately linked: “From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance” (Psalm 50:2, NLT).

Like the psalmist, we can behold the beauty of the Lord as we watch the sunset: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship” (Psalm 19:1, NLT; see also Psalm 19:2–6). We see mountains, forests, rivers, seas, sky, and everything God has made wherever we look. Through these awe-inspiring works of creation, we can clearly perceive the Lord’s “invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20, NLT). They reassure us of God’s existence and His presence in our lives. As we observe the beauty the Lord has created all around us, our hearts soar with joy, freedom, deliverance, and praise:
However, beholding the beauty of the Lord is not as much about observing physical beauty as it is seeing with our spiritual eyes. It involves actively focusing our attention on God’s divine qualities, nature, and actions. We must deliberately pursue knowing Him better through prayer and meditation. God is beautiful in holiness, and we see this as we study His Word (Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 32:4; Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 15:4). The more we behold Him, the more we will recognize and acknowledge the beauty of His goodness and favor in our lives:
We will look with awe and wonder, delighting in God’s grace, mercy, and kindness toward us (Psalm 37:4; 43:3–4; Isaiah 58:13–14; 63:7; Acts 14:17).

The Lord’s beauty is most radiantly revealed in His loving, self-sacrificing gift of salvation in Jesus Christ: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:4–5; see also Hebrews 1:3). “At the cross the beauty of God is mangled, smelly, dirty, misunderstood, ‘banged with terror,’ to quote one modern poet. It makes us weep. And it is good. And how it makes us yearn to be loved and love like such a God” (Taylor, D., “A Holy Longing: Beauty Is the Hard-to-Define Essence That Draws People to the Gospel,” Christianity Today International, 2008, p. 40).

To behold the beauty of the Lord is to worship our Savior, spend time in the pleasure of His company, and appreciate who He is and all He has done for us. The more we direct our gaze toward Him, the more our lives will be transformed into His likeness (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Hebrews 12:1–2). Not only will we behold His beauty, but we will become beautiful servants and messengers of His: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isaiah 52:7, see also Romans 10:15).