God of Awe and Wonder
What do you find breathtaking? What excites you? What brings you a sense of awe and wonder? Maybe it is a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon, a snow-capped mountain, or the brilliance of a star-studded sky on a clear, dark night. Maybe it is a great work of art, an outstanding athletic display, or that first time you heard a baby’s heartbeat being knit together in a mother’s womb. We are designed to appreciate beauty, to enjoy the spectacular, and recognize greatness… we were created to worship. Yet, we far too often lose our sense of wonder and fail to acknowledge the greatness of the One who is worthy of all of our worship and praise. We choose to worship the creature instead of the Creator.
This last week many of you had the privilege of serving at our Sports Camp where we focused on several attributes of God and how there is None Greater than Him. What a joy it was to serve together and extoll His greatness to all of the kids that participated as well as encourage our own hearts as we considered His power, holiness, patience, and glory. Sports are an excellent example of an arena in life where we celebrate greatness, and all throughout the week it was such an exciting way to engage others with the gospel as we pivoted from sports to point to the all-surpassing glory of God that pales everything else in comparison. So, my exhortation to us this morning is this- Cultivate a Worshipful Awe of our Great God.
Allow God’s revelation of Himself in His word to fill you with wonder and overflow in worship. Contemplate the majesty of a God powerful enough to speak the universe into existence, yet who desires to draw near to His people. Consider the depths of our depravity and hopelessness in our sin, yet a savior who would empty himself on our behalf to bridge that gap and reconcile us to Himself. History is full of great stories of accomplishment, victory, and rescue. We all know that some of the most exciting stories are ones where all hope seems to be lost, defeat is assured, but then the hero arrives on scene. One of my favorite phrases we see throughout scripture is the simple “But God”. Like in Ephesians 2 where on the heels of Paul declaring us all dead in our sins and children of wrath, verse 4 opens with “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved”. Or similarly in Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. Or consider Psalm 73:26 where the psalmist declares “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”. We see throughout all of history, God’s track record of faithfulness and supreme glory. So, let us not become complacent or dulled in our sense of worship, but cultivate a sense of worshipful awe by following in the example of the Psalmist in Psalm 77:11-12 as he exalts “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds”.