“Our God is an awesome God!” So goes the chorus of one of my favorite songs, written by the late Rich Mullins. I’ve been thinking just what do we mean when we declare that God is awesome?
The Oxford Dictionary defines “awe” as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” This reminds me of the many instances in scripture when an encounter with God results in a response that can only be described as awe. A common response is that of reverent fear, usually expressed in bowing down before God. The general picture is that the majesty and grandeur of God and Christ is totally other and above what humans can ever have or be, such that to encounter him can only be overwhelming. After all, he is God.
Sadly, it is becoming more common these days to try to approach God with less awe than he deserves. The grandeur of God and Christ tends to be degraded by the “Buddy Jesus” mentality of this age. When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in a vision, there was no way that he could maintain a “Buddy Lord” attitude. He recognized his true standing before the awesome God (Isaiah 6.1-7). A loss of the sense of God’s otherness diminishes our appreciation of his awesomeness. We lose the sense of wonder and our God becomes too small. We recreate him in our own image. Then, like us, he becomes powerless to address the woes of this world. With a reduced god like that, why bother to worship and serve him?
If we do recognize the awesomeness of God, how is that manifested in our behavior? The way we conduct ourselves at the time of worship, for example, may be a good place to discern how we really perceive God. “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12.28 ESV). When we gather to worship, are we intentionally seeking to enter into his presence and encounter him as he really is, or are we there just to “have fun” or to fulfill our religious duty? Is the prevailing atmosphere that of reverence and awe, or is it more like gathering for a movie, concert, or even a brunch program? Sometimes, in our effort to attract new people and make them feel comfortable, we downplay reverence. And they may have a good time—perhaps enjoy the music, maybe even the sermon. But will they have the opportunity to sense God’s awesomeness, that “they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” (1 Corinthians 14.25 NIV11).
Thanks be to God. Who he is and what he can do is not dependent on our perception of him. He remains the awesome God.
—Keith Y. Jainga