Who, then, is beautiful?

A young woman with whom my wife and I are acquainted was, to be polite, of a substantial build! She works in a retail outlet that we have used quite a lot since coming to France, and one that - outwith the restrictions imposed because of Covid-19 - we still visit occasionally. I think that it must have been before the Covid outbreak that we noticed that she was absent from the shop. One of her colleagues, with whom we are also friendly, explained that she was on extended leave as she was having surgery to remove some of the excess weight that she had been carrying.

Some time later, we called in and, to our delight, she had returned. "Quelle différence !" (What a difference!). Here was this relatively slim young woman looking as happy as could be. It must have been "pre-Covid", because I know that we hugged!!! 

Then some time later again, after the first 'lockdown' in France, I happened to call into the shop. Our friend was, again, missing. I made enquiries, and learned that a customer had insulted her with a comment about her size, in such a way as to cause her emotional problems. 

Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen photographs of females who are, allegedly, "the most beautiful women in the world"! But that is only the opinion of the person who produced the photographs. I have my idea of what a beautiful woman looks like - but a tribal chief in Samoa has a totally different idea as what constitutes real beauty! 

In Genesis 24, we read that Abraham, knowing that he was near to the end of his earthly life, charged his senior servant, Eliezer, that he would not allow Isaac, the son of the promise, to be married to a Canaanite woman, but that he would go and find a wife from among Abraham's own kindred. Eliezer assured Abraham that he would do so, and set off with suitable gifts for the young woman he believed that YHWH, his master's God, would provide.

He asked for a sign: "Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the maiden to whom I shall say, 'Pray let down your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels' - let her be the one whom Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac. By this I shall know that Thou hast shown steadfast love to my master." (Gen 24:13-14).

The young woman to whom he was directed was named Rebekah, and she was "... very fair to look upon," (v.16|). But physical beauty was not the crucial point for Eliezer. His prayer gives us an important clue as to the kind of beauty he sought for his master's son. Common courtesy would have prompted Rebekah to provide drinking water for a stranger - but to water camels was a different matter altogether! Ten thirsty camels could drink up to 210 gallons (more than 950 litres!). Rebekah clearly had a servant's heart. She was, in the eyes of others, a physically beautiful young woman. However, she was also  a young woman of beautiful character - and that is much more important. 

The cowboys of the "Wild West" allegedly had a saying about females: "Looks don't last; cookin' do!". There is a lot of truth in that! 

Proverbs 31:10ff is a description that I have often applied to my own dear wife. In v.30 we read "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Of course, the same is true of we males!

Who, then, is beautiful? Those who reflect something of the beauty of the Lord Jesus in their lives; who display His character through their own; who draw others to Him by who they are.

Do you display this kind of beauty? Do I? That's perhaps a question worth pondering! 

Where is God in all of this?

It was on Tuesday, March 17th, that France went into the "lockdown" from which we have only recently begun to emerge. My wife and I were still in Scotland on that day! However, while others we know were turned away from entering France, we were permitted to do so. From a human perspective it would appear that this was because we had both a permanent residence, and official proof that it was so, in the form of my French Driving Licence!

So many weeks later, many are still asking the question "Why?". There have been so many deaths - some of them particularly tragic. So many have suffered, even although they have recovered. Many have lost jobs or, at the very least, a significant part of their income for this year. And the list goes on.

Of course, Covid-19 has not been the only problem for mankind! Even in the midst of the pandemic, the enemies of the Chosen People of Almighty God, the Children of Israel, have been attacking Jews - maiming and killing at every opportunity. Elsewhere in the Middle East, and in dozens of countries around the world, disciples of Jesus are suffering - many in ways that are certainly beyond my imagination - simply because of their faithfulness to Him. There are continuing reports of 'natural calamities' such as earthquakes, tsunamis, plagues of locusts. That list, too, can be lengthened.

How do we make sense of such senseless tragedies?  If God is sovereign, why does He allow suffering?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  These are questions that are often asked - and to which the answers are not easy! The Conservative Jewish Rabbi, Harold Kushner, had to grapple with this question when he learned that his son had progeria, a progressive genetic disorder that causes children to age rapidly.  His son would not live past his teens.

 

In response to suffering, he wrote the book When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  Kushner concludes that God is not the immediate cause of tragedy and that asking questions such as “Why did this happen to me?  What did I do to deserve this?” is pointless.  Such questions, he believes, are unanswerable. Instead, he believes that the only meaning suffering has is the meaning that the sufferer gives to it.  And we need to give it meaning, he says, to find our way through it. He writes:

 

“Let me suggest that the bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us.  They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly.  But we can give them a meaning.  We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them,” he writes. “The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God’s part.  Because the tragedy is not God’s will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes.  We can turn to Him for help in overcoming it, precisely because we can tell ourselves that God is as outraged by it as we are.”

We read, in Dr Luke's account of the Gospel record, these words: "There were some present at that very time who told Him [Jesus] of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo′am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (13:1-5).

The bottom line is that we do not always have a nice. pat, answer to the question of suffering. What we do know is that Father God is in the situation with us, if we have a personal relationship with Him, through the Lord Jesus. He, and He alone, is our Certainty in these continuing uncertain times.