I know that God must get some great belly laughs out of me. Sometimes I can just see him slapping his knee and saying to the angels, “Look at that. Can you believe her? Isn’t she a hoot?” Just this week was probably one of those times.
It was time to meet with one of my best friends. You may know her. Her name is Miss Clairol and she and I have been tight for many years now. I mixed up my hair color which looks like ketchup at first, but after being exposed to air for a few minutes looks more like a jelly made from tar. I brushed it on the roots of my hair, leaving a Medusa-like pile of hair on top of my head. The bottom half of my hair was black with color while the brownish-red ends were waving wildly in every direction. Actually the correct color terminology for those wildly waving ends is “Steamy Cappuccino”. Now you must understand that one can not color one’s hair without the hair color also getting on one’s skin, so I also had black jelly-like hair color on my ears, forehead and around the hairline on my neck. Let me tell you, I was a lovely picture!!
I had to wait the required 20 minutes for the roots to process and so I sat down to do my morning Bible study. As I caught my reflection in the window in my basement, I thought how hilarious I must look to God. Here I am approaching the Holy One looking more like something that had been scared straight out of the depths of hell. Perhaps the Lord thought that I was just trying on my Halloween costume early?? Nonetheless, it struck me that the Lord loves me regardless of how I look.
I was reminded of Psalm 45: 11 which says, “The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” Our King, our Prince, our Redeemer is enthralled by you and me. The Hebrew word for enthralled is awah which means to desire, covet, long for, wish, sigh, crave, want, be greedy, prefer. Each time we come to Christ, whether it is the first time we come for salvation or the countless times we come for fellowship, Jesus desires our presence. He is greedy for a relationship with you and with me. He thinks I am beautiful. He prefers me and He prefers you. How about that? It blows my mind that I am ‘preferred’ by the King of the Universe, the God of all Creation.
Dear one, no matter what you look like, no matter what you have done, no matter the lifestyle you have lived, the words you have said, the attitudes you have harbored in your heart, Christ Jesus is enthralled by your beauty and He craves an intimate, abiding relationship with you. Trust me, sweet friend, if He can be enthralled by what I looked like on that morning as I sat to worship Him with hair color all over me, He can be enthralled by anyone.
