I was going over some old notes I had made, and while I cannot recall every individual thought that made me write them down, I came across this one: do I leave everything at the gate when I come to worship? What exactly do I mean? it occurred to me that when we come to worship God, are we truly called away from worldly concerns, do we reign in our wandering thoughts, impure sentiments, and suppress all our secular concerns, putting everything to one side so that our hearts might be preoccupied with approaching God?
In Exodus 19 God orders Moses to sanctify the people before He comes down to them; back then, God required the people to keep a certain distance from Him, and to come directly to God was unthinkable for the Jews, but we should respect and value our privileges because our Saviour has granted us full access to His throne as an unlimited source of grace and mercy.
“Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” Hebrews 4:16
So, the question remains; do you, do I, reign in all our wandering thoughts when we come to worship? Are we always preoccupied with approaching God or are we preoccupied with thoughts of the upcoming Sunday roast, the argument we had last night, the relatives due later in the day or a thousand other pressing events?
Perhaps worship has become like any other activity, and like most other activities that we used to be excited about, are we now less excited than we once were?
In day to day living, it seems the longer we are engaged in something, the more it becomes part of our life, the more likely that we are less excited over it.
Why does it seem that our enthusiasm and excitement fades with familiarity?
Can you remember being excited at your first date, first day at senior school, your first car, your first day at work, your first home away from your parents, your marriage…the honeymoon and even the first couple of years? Relationships, even our relationship with God can fall under this same familiarity. The excitement has waned, and a sense of awe is not always there, we have become familiar with God.
Awe…where has it gone?
Do you know that there is something inside us that that makes us want to be amazed, to make us wonder, to marvel at something greater than ourselves, something so awesome that we want to live for it, and are willing to make sacrifices for it?
This is the thing that will get us up in the morning.
That’s not just Christians, that’s the whole of mankind, every single person that has ever breathed.
For some, it is their relationship with God, but for others, it could be anything from a TV series like Game of Thrones, exotic holidays, the actuality of space travel (for those more financially successful) the hallucinogenic effect of drugs, a book series that enables the reader to lose themselves within its page, and who can fail to be enthralled by the amazing firework displays we see these days? there is all manner of outlets for your desire for awe to be satisfied.
It is God who has hardwired this desire, this need, within us and if every day we are not beckoned, allured, and captured by the glory of God, we will be beckoned and tempted and captured by something else.
What has captured your inward desire today?
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Psalm 107:1
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8
….and countless other verses that tell us God is good.
One of the things we are used to proclaiming is that God is always good.
Sometimes words flow so naturally from our mouths that our mind hardly has time to analyse their meaning. The word good is so common and commonplace that it hardly piques our interest, let alone inspires awe:
“Wow, this cereal is so good, it’s amazing!” you'll exclaim at breakfast.
“We had a good time at the movies last night.” You tell your friend.
“Listen, I can tell you where to get a good cup of coffee and a really good lunch”
“Steve is such a good husband.”
“That series on the TV is so good.”
“My hairdresser is amazingly good.”
So perhaps what is meant to happen inside of us when we read that God is good doesn't happen.
When you read or hear the words, "God is good," your heart should be flooded with astonishment, amazement, thankfulness, humility, and love. To put it another way, our response should be summed up in one word: AWE. This is where the issue arises. Today, when you look around, it appears many people go through their days with no sense of wonder.
Let’s just come away from the OT and have a look at these 2 verses in Hebrews
Hebrews 12:28-29 NIV
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’
Awe - a very strong feeling of wonder, reverence, or fear, caused by something grand or powerful….something greater than us.
Let’s pop back to the Psalms – 33:8 "Let the earth fear the Lord: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him."
When was the last time you felt awestruck in the presence of God? Take a time to think about that. When was the last time you stood in corporate worship with other believers and felt the fear of the Lord, the wonder of God?
If we are truly going to worship God with our lives, it needs to be with reverence and awe.
So, while we may recognise who God is as our Creator and Judge, we need the complete picture, who are we?
You don’t have to look far to find a conference, a Facebook page, a bible study, a book, a blog that promises to help us find our identity, with a promise that knowing who we are would increase our low spiritual self-esteem, help us break our sin patterns, and allow us to experience the abundant life of which Jesus spoke.
A psalm that is frequently used in this attempt to lift our problem, is Psalm 139 and verse 14 in particular. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
But this psalm from David teaches about the Lord’s omniscience, His omnipresence creatorship and holiness. The words fearfully and wonderfully made express David’s awe of God’s handiwork.
Yes, we are wonderfully made, we are made in the image of God, Genesis 1:27 and we are made for God’s glory says Isaiah 43:6a-7.
But Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15-17 had another view of who He was, and it gave him an appropriate, awe-inspiring view of God.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Yes, to some extent who we are with Christ is awesome, but not to the point that we forget that God is both our loving and caring Father and the Almighty, Eternal God. He is still the all-powerful Judge of all men and the omnipotent ruler of the universe. He is to be reverently acknowledged in a way that no one else can be. He is to be held in the utmost regard and revered, exalted, and glorified in a way that no one else can be. He is, to put it directly, to be feared like no other. He deserves to be held in awe like no other!
Reverential fear is truly capable of producing reverential awe.
So; authors, teachers, bloggers, social media posters, influencers, please don’t stop telling me that I am a daughter of the King, God’s masterpiece, that I am sung over, that I am beautiful in his eyes, and set apart for a purpose. But please don’t stop there, until you can show me the greatness and uniqueness of God, unless you have shown me how to gaze in awe at the great “I am” how can I possibly know the answer to the question, "who am I ?"
I cannot have a true awareness and perception of myself until I have an awareness of the magnificence, uniqueness, and greatness of God.
If we only want to know who we are, what our identity is, without a true awareness of the greatness and glory of God, well, that is like standing at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean with a bucket of water and not understanding the difference.
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