You Might Need An Awe Adjustment Series

Introduction

Last week, I told you that as a Christian, I love God and because I do love God I do not want to take advantage of do-overs in my life because I drifted away from God. Make no mistake about it, God is gracious and will give me as many do-overs as I need, but I want to limit them because I know every time I drift away from God, it hurts Him, and it hurts me, I suffer consequences too. So, I want to keep the course. I want to keep the faith. In fact, I believe that it is a worthwhile goal for me and for every Christian in this room to have as few do-overs in our life as possible.

If we are going to do just that and have just a few do-overs, we must be honest with ourselves. In fact, we are commanded to be honest with ourselves. Proverbs 3:21-22 (NIV)

21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;

22 they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.

And so, in my soul searching, I have realized this: Everyone of us have been given a sense of awe. When that awe is directed toward God, everything is fine in my life. When I take that sense of awe off God and put it on myself or his creation (something less than God), I am putting myself in a bad situation, a situation where I might find myself having to use a do-over.

Let me tell you what “awe” is by use of a Scripture found in Psalms. I am quoting from Psalm 33:8 (NKJV)

8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

First, that Scripture tells me that “awe” is something everyone has of us have otherwise the Scripture can not tell all the inhabitants of the earth to have awe of God. Secondly, we are told to direct our awe to God which tells me that I control my awe and that I can place my “awe” on God or something other than God. Thirdly, there is a relationship between awe and fear. It is my fear of a Holy Powerful God that created the heavens and earth and everything in it that drives my awe. I look at what He does or has done and say wow; that’s my God; He is awesome. So, if I lose my awe for God then I lost my fear of a Holy Powerful God and put something else ahead of Him; that spells spiritual danger in my life.

I do not want to lose my awe of God; so, I want to know how King David kept his sense of awe when things were caving in around him. I want to see what he did so I can apply that to my life. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Psalm 27:1-4. In this Psalm David is fleeing for his life either because King Saul wants to kill him early on in his life; or it would be his son Absalom who wants to kill him later down the road. But in either case, David never lost his awe. And I want to know how?

Scripture

Psalm 27:1-4 (NKJV)

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.

3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident.

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

POINT #1

DAVID NEVER LOST HIS AWE OF GOD BECAUSE HE SAW GOD FIRST AND PRIMARY IN HIS LIFE; EVERYTHING ELSE WAS SECONDARY.

Look at how David starts off this Psalm, he does not talk about the people chasing him. In fact, through the whole Psalm he never gives us a name, so we do not know with certainty if it is King Saul or Absalom who is pursing him when he is writing this psalm. He describes them only as the wicked and his enemies in verse 2.

2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.

Now let’s suppose someone is after me to hurt me- let’s say it is one of deacons. Let’s just pick Jim Stewart. While I am running and hiding out so old Jim cannot find me, I get a call on my cell phone from Dale. And Dale starts the conversation, what’s going on. I can promise you the first words out of my mouth probably would not have been: you know Dale “The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life”. The first words out of my mouth would probably be that old crazy Jim is after me and I need to get to a safe place.