4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

Gazing upon the beauty of God's Face is the only thing, the one thing that he needs. It is the one thing he will seek.

Not that his enemies would fall in a hole, not that he and his friends would be healthy, not that his family would never forsake him, not that he would have food or drink, the one thing he wants is to see the beauty of God.

A.    Anxiety relieved

In the case of Anxiety, most people will tell you to stop imagining scary scenarios, and imagine and nice and happy place. David does the opposite.

He imagines two of the worst possible scenarios:

1)  Though an army encamps against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

An army could come and surround me, threatening to kill me and put my head on a spear.

Does that sound ridiculous to you? Obvious hyperbole?
        Dyersburg woman – If you shoot me, I'll go to heaven and you will go to hell.

2) 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Utter emotional and relational abandonment, yet I will be taken in, I will not fear because God has taken me in.

I once baptized a student from India who had been converted. When I asked him about his family abandoning him if he became a Christian, he said 'God has given me dozens of brothers, fathers and mothers in the Church.'

Are you afraid? Don't ignore the worst and hope for the best, gaze upon the beauty of Christ.

B. Implicit Value

Something beautiful has a value all its own. It does not serve another purpose, it has value for itself. God's beauty needs serve no other purpose. Not I love Christ because he forgives me, not because he gives me stuff, but because he is imminently loveable.
    
When Philip Pettit came down after walking a tight rope between the two towers, he was immediately asked, ‘why did you do it?' His only response: it was beautiful.

1.    Beauty creates community through the joy of praise
People who find the same thing beautiful love to get together and talk about it.
    Susan Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent" – immediately on facebook

2.    Beauty communicates hope through the conviction of meaning
You inherently assume that the world can be better, because something beautiful can be found there.

Josh Manley – If I were in the cast of Les Miserables I would feel like I was doing something important.

3.    Beauty undermines Selfishness
Beauty shocks us out of our selfishness, it brings us out of self-absorption and forces us to think about something else for a moment.