Psalm 45:11
The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
Today’s Monday’s Marinate has me hung up on a single word: enthralled. The king is enthralled by our beauty. God thinks we are beautiful, so beautiful He is enthralled by us. Really? Even WITH serious bed-head? Amazingly, yes. Of course when we are talking about beauty, we’re referring to more than just our physical being. Beauty is most represented from within us. Our Creator, our King, is enthralled by our beauty.
Humbly, this stops me in my tracks. Who am I that God should be enthralled by anything I do? Who am I that God would be enthralled about anything I am? He made me. I would be nothing without Him.
Aha. Therein lay at least part of the answer as to why The King is enthralled by our beauty. He made us. Every intimate detail of our appearance, talents, and temperament He crafted.
God leaves us with examples of how his enchantment with us, imperfect as we are, could even be possible.
Consider this simple example involving an inanimate object: my home.
I do not live in a castle or a mansion. I live in a normal, everyday townhome. It’s often cluttered with books, papers, clothes, or a myriad of other things that mysteriously accumulate over time, until finally I feel like I’m Jericho being surrounded by an army of stuff. My house is mostly clean, just cluttered. If you were to stop by, I might have to say. “Hang on a sec. Let me push this pile to the side, so you can have a seat.”
I know. It doesn’t sound like anything to be too enthralled about.
Yet, there are times when I am enthralled by the beauty of my home. It’s a peaceful place full of love, even when it’s cluttered.
Occasionally, I’ll go on major cleaning binges. I’ll turn the place upside down, scrubbing all the cracks and crevices – including every darned slat in the window blinds. I’ll work until all the pieces of clutter are tucked into their appropriate resting spot. I’ll dust the house, creating a shiny sheen glossier than polish-buffed shoes. Lo and behold, you’ll actually be able to see yourself in the bathroom mirror without looking through water splatter. Everything in ship shore shape, at least for a little while.
These are the special moments that feel like a little slice of heaven. Often, exhausted after such a frenzy, I’ll jump in the shower to scrub the grime off myself from my Tasmanian Devil whirlwind of washing the place down. Afterward, I’ll snuggle in my pajamas on the couch, light a candle, and enjoy the scent of the season. There’s something satisfying when all the work is behind me and I see all I accomplished to create this beautiful, restful place. I survey my sanitized little sanctuary and I become enthralled.
God made us. As He steps back to survey his accomplishment He created, He is enthralled. Like my house, He can clean up our clutter and wash away the dirt and the grime. He cleanses us. We end up smelling of a fragrant aroma sweeter than any scent created by mere man.
To drive home the meaning and significance of what it means that the Lord is enthralled by our beauty, I looked up its synonyms. According to Merriam Webster, enthralled is synonymous with enchanted, hypnotized, mesmerized and bedazzled to name a few. If we replace the word enthralled in Psalm 45:11 with each of these words, the verse would read as follows:
The king is enchanted by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king is hypnotized by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king is mesmerized by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king is bedazzled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
If you know me, or you’ve been reading for awhile, you might already know where I’m heading with this one.
Come on now! Who doesn’t love thinking that THE KING is BEDAZZLED by our beauty? Bling. Bling. Sparkle. Sparkle.
When I was a little girl, I desperately wanted a BeDazzler. I guess I was a lover of sparkly, shiny baubles even back then. I loved the idea of making my own unique creations. I don’t think I actually ever got one. My mom probably thought it wasn’t safe or something. I’m thinking there might be a future BeDazzling party in store for me and a few girlfriends. We can get our glam on as we sparkle and shine like the gems we are. Seriously, where can I get my hands on a BeDazzler?
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got some bling. Doo Whop Doo Whop Doo Whop, Yeah!
Actually, one of the BeDazzler taglines is “How do you take something from dull to dazzling? You BeDazzle it.” You take the dull little ole me (and you too, no disrespect … we all need some shining up) and you turn it into something dazzling as a diamond when we let the Lord BeDazzle us. We’ll be shining brighter than any rhinestone covered hat we create.
Back to our original word enthralled. In searching Biblegateway.com to find other instances the word enthralled was used, I found none. It was only used one time in the entire Bible in Psalm 45:11 (New International Version, NIV). Its solitary reference caused curiosity in me to investigate further.
Explore the original Hebrew. אָוָה, transliteration avah, pronounced (aw-vaw’). According to Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance, the original word translated enthralled in the NIV Bible in it’s primitive root means “to wish for:-covet, (greatly) desire, be desirous, long, lust (after)”.
Back to our verse we go to replace enthralled with words from the primitive root definition.
The king covets your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king greatly desires your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king is desirous of your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king longs for your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.
The king lusts after your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. (Obviously, lust here is in a pure form.)
Most often, the original Hebrew word has been translated in other verses within the NIV Bible to “desire” or a form of that word. ”The King desires your beauty, namely you. He longs for your beauty, namely you. He lusts after your beauty, namely you. Everything about you, God thinks is beautiful. I know that is difficult for us to sometimes think or truly believe. How can he love me? I did such and such wrong. How can he love someone who would do such a thing? How can He think I’m beautiful? I’m “x” pounds overweight. I don’t look like the woman on the cover of that magazine. I am not beautiful. But God says, Yes, you are beautiful. So beautiful in fact that He is enthralled by your beauty.
If you are familiar with this psalm, you know that it was composed as part of a wedding celebration. According to study notes in the Archeological Study Bible, “This song was composed and sung in praise of the king on his wedding day. He undoubtedly belonged to David’s dynasty, and the song was probably used at more than one royal wedding.”
Yes, this psalm was written for an actual earthly king and his earthly bride. But it was also left for us, pointing to the day when we, the Bride (The Church, Believers in Christ) will be greeted by the Bridegroom (Jesus Christ) and united for all eternity.
Like a bridegroom who first catches a glimpse of his beautiful bride, YOU, my dear, take God’s breath away!
Do you believe God is enthralled by you?
If not, consider memorizing Psalm 45:11. Replace the pronoun “your” with “my”.
Repeat: “The king is enthralled by MY beauty; honor him for he is MY lord.”
Speak it aloud repeatedly until it sinks down into your soul. (Speak it aloud in private — unless you want other people to think you’re whacko or full of yourself.)