Isaiah 53
Wow, talk about a jam-packed chapter. I feel like I could write a blog about every single verse! But I decided to focus on one of the things that I have always found most amazing about God: “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (vs 2)
Song of Solomon 7
You are unique, special, one-of-a-kind. In the whole history of the human race, nobody has ever had your specific genetic makeup or your precise combination of gifts, talents, and abilities. You cannot be replaced, duplicated, or cloned. There is only one of you, and God made you beautiful.
Ecclesiastes 10
Solomon begins this chapter with an interesting proverb: “As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (vs 1) He’s saying that it takes far more energy to create something beautiful than it does to muck it up. And unfortunately, in this world, there are people who would rather spend their time going around tearing things down than building things up.
Proverbs 31
Beauty, beauty, beauty. We live in a culture obsessed with beauty, and it is getting more obsessed all the time. Author Regina Franklin wrote about that in her book Who Calls Me Beautiful? In 1951, Miss Sweden weighed 151 pounds and was 5′7″. By 1983, Miss Sweden measured in two inches taller at 5′9″, but 45 pounds lighter at 106. Clearly, the standards of “beauty” change from generation to generation!
