Awesome God

 

Deuteronomy 10:12-17a, 20-21 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome. You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.”

 

Awesome is a word that is loosely thrown around in our culture today; it is used everywhere for everything. I hear that this is awesome, that is awesome, people are awesome and things are awesome. But, are they really? Has society today taken a word that is meant of high and extraordinary, and made it common and ordinary? 

 

The word that the New King James version translates as “awesome” is translated as “terrible” in the old King James version. It is the Hebrew word “yārē'”, meaning to fear, to be afraid; to stand in awe of, to be awed; to reverence, to honor, and to respect. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary does not have the word “awesome”, but the word “awe” is defined as: Fear mingled with admiration or reverence; reverential fear. This definition includes the Bible verse Psalm 4:3-5 as reference and states: “know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.” The second definition given by Webster is: Fear; dread inspired by something great, or terrific. To strike with fear and reverence; to influence by fear, terror or respect; as, his majesty (greatness of appearance; dignity; grandeur; dignity of aspect or manner; the quality or state of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder; applied with peculiar propriety to God and His works) awed them into silence.

 

Pastor Frances Chan points out that we have become so familiar with the thought of God, that many people today cannot imagine being afraid of God’s presence, yet every person in the Bible who comes into contact with God falls to the ground in fear. For most of us, it is difficult to consistently see God for who He truly is. Frankly, the thought of coming face-to-face with an infinite, holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign and supreme Being that spoke all creation into existence is perplexing and terrifying; it’s awesome! In worship and prayer, we stand in the presence of unlimited power and pure holiness. It is absolutely essential for us to come to this awesome God for who He is, not for who we’d like Him to be. Reverential fear mingled with admiration is the natural response to God.  

 

God is the source of life and satisfaction, and until we come to God as He is, we will never find what we are looking for. Our God is an awesome God!

In Christ, Brian