Beautiful Holiness

1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

4 For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.

7 Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.”
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let the sea resound, and all that is in it.
12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;
let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.
13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes,
he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples in his faithfulness.

God is perfectly beautiful “in the splendor of his holiness.” The more we know about God’s perfect holiness, the more we realize that we are not perfectly holy and beautiful. We realize we don’t live up to the way God created us to live. We don’t love other people the way God wants them to be loved. We don’t live the way God designed us to live. Our sin separates us from God, because sinfulness cannot stand in the presence of God’s perfect, beautiful holiness.

Psalm 96 describes the greatness and splendor of God, who is perfectly holy and calls us to come before him with an offering. We are called to “worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness,” and yet we know how often we have failed to live as God commands. How can we truly worship God if we are not holy?

The good news that we know today is that God deals with the imperfection of our sin by giving us his perfect grace. God chooses to get rid of our sin—not by punishing us—but by taking the punishment on himself in Jesus. The more we see God’s perfection, the more we know our own imperfection. And the more we know our own imperfection, the more we are grateful for God’s perfect love, which accepts us by grace through the gift of Jesus’ life for us.

Holy God, we confess that our lives do not reflect the perfect beauty of who you are. We need your forgiveness and grace to bring us back to you. Amen.