Living In The Awe Of God

Living in the Awe of God

Various Scriptures

June 27, 2004

Introduction

One of the themes of my life is that God is worthy of praise. He is awesome. He is deserving of our devotion and our awe.

But when was the last time we really just sat back, looked at God in the Scriptures and said, ¡§Wow¡KYou are incredible. You are awesome and glorious and majestic. Your worthy of all praise.¡¨

We say that God is worthy of my praise and I go, ¡§Yeah ¡V Like God really needs to earn my praise.¡¨

The Bible says in Job 25:2 ¡V

"Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.¡¨

What we need to understand, folks, is that God already has it coming! He deserves it just because of who He is, not to mention what He does and says.

This morning I just want to give us three ways for us to find awe for God. There are plenty of places to find awe, but I want to focus on these three.

And if you will reflect on these through the rest of the week, asking God really reveal Himself and His awesomeness in these, I believe your life will be changed.

So let¡¦s dive right in, okay? First¡K

We find awe for God¡K

1. In who He is.

Exodus 15:11

"Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you--majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Isaiah 40:25

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

He is the Creator who put all the stars and heavens in place. He created this earth and all that is in it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that if the constellations appeared only once in a thousand years, imagine what an exciting event that would be. But because they are there every night, we barely give them a look. (SermonCentral.com)

And not only did He create them, He holds them in place!

Listen to Isaiah 40:26 ¡V

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Because of WHOSE mighty hand? Yours? Mine? Not hardly.

God, the Creator is the one who holds the universe in His hands, and He takes care of it.

I¡¦m sure someone can give us scientific explanations of how the universe holds together, but they cannot explain the why, or the who.

He created you and me, believe it or not! And He created us each uniquely. Jesus tells us that the very hairs on our heads are numbered. And even with the few of us in here who make it easy for Him to count, that is still a massive thing.

I read this story recently that I thought you¡¦d enjoy:

In dire need of a beauty makeover, I went to my salon with a fashion magazine photo of a gorgeous, young, lustrous-haired model.

I showed the stylist the trendy new cut I wanted and settled into the chair as he began humming a catchy tune and got to work on my thin, graying hair.

I was delighted by his cheerful attitude until I recognized the melody. It was the theme from "Mission: Impossible."

(http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh ¡V SermonCentral.com)

Over 6 billion people in the world, and He knows that kind of detail about every single one. That¡¦s awesome, wouldn¡¦t you say? I¡¦d say.

So God¡¦s the Creator and Sustainer. What else is He?

He is the Master of the Universe. He created it, He sustains it, and He runs it. That¡¦s powerful. That should bring us to awe of Him.

He is holy. Perfectly holy. Not just holy on the outside, but perfectly holy through and through. He is so holy that the Bible says He cannot even look on sin. And yet when we confess our sins, He forgives and purifies. How¡¦s that for awesome?

He is jealous. Did you know that? The Bible says God is jealous for His glory, and refuses to let another have it.

He is also an angry God. We don¡¦t like to think of this, but the Bible says it¡¦s true. This anger is an outgrowth, if you will, of His holiness. God is angered by sin, and since God is also just, He punishes it.

But He is also love. And that love drove Him to save us. And so He is also the Savior. The Savior who shows grace to undeserving people.

God would be perfectly just to punish everybody for their sins. Yet the gracious God said that He would rather punish His perfect, sinless Son instead.

Doesn¡¦t that fill you with awe? If not, then I would suggest that you take some time even during the rest of the service to pray to God, asking Him to show you just how that should fill you with awe.