Our God - "Awe"-fully Awesome!

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good, and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100

What is worship? The word comes from the Old English “worth-ship,” and it basically means that we declare the Lord’s worth. In worship we fall before God in amazement and gratitude, to the extent that we grasp His power, His righteousness, His authority, and His mercy. Because of God’s infinite dignity, our worship is dignified. Because of God’s holiness, we tremble. Because we are mere dust and ashes, we cautiously approach the great I AM, the Eternal One.

We are like Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3, Isaiah at his vision of God’s throne in Isaiah 6, and John at the glorified Savior’s appearance to him in Revelation 1. We dare not enter into worship casually or according to our own whims and desires, but seriously and wholeheartedly.

Years ago, people used the word “awful” (actually “awe-full”) to convey this idea. The dictionary today defines “awe” as “a mixture of wonder and dread, a feeling of amazement and respect mixed with fear that is often coupled with a feeling of personal insignificance or powerlessness.”

Today many people use the word “awesome” to describe almost anything impressive or enjoyable, but it has not always been that way. “Awesome” once meant “inspiring awe, amazement, fear, or wonder.” The intent of our nation’s “Shock and Awe” missile barrage against Iraq in March, 2003, was to create such a response. The massive air strikes were intended to be so devastating that they would leave Saddam’s soldiers stunned and unable or unwilling to fight.

Isaac Watts captured this aspect of worship in 1719 in the hymn, “Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne.” Here are the words, which he based on Psalm 100:

Before Jehovah’s awful throne, ye nations, bow with sacred joy. Know that the Lord is God alone; He can create, and He destroy. His sovereign power, without our aid, made us of clay, and formed us men. And when like wandering sheep we strayed, He brought us to His fold again. We’ll crowd His gates with thankful songs, high as the heavens our voices raise. And earth, with her ten thousand tongues, shall fill His courts with sounding praise. Wide as the world is His command, vast as eternity His love. Firm as a rock His truth shall stand, when rolling years shall cease to move.

The writer of Hebrews described the overwhelming experience of the Hebrews when they encountered God at Mount Sinai. Then he wrote of the greater glory of Mount Zion and the earth-shattering events to come at the last day. He concluded his inspired letter with these words:

Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Now that’s awesome, because our God is “awe”-fully awesome!