Awe of God
I recently read a book by Paul Tripp simply called Awe. I was so impressed by this book that I turned it into a 4 lesson class that I will be teaching in our church in the month of August. So I thought that I could summarize the classes here in these articles. This is #1 of 4.
What do we mean when we speak of awe? The dictionary definition is "a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder." It is used, for example, in Psalm 33:8 (ESV), "Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!" The Hebrew word is YAREAH: (1) Fear, (2) shudder at, be in awe of, hold in deference, feared, reverenced, held in honor. The Greek Septuagint gives us the translation SALEUTHATOSAN: (1) literally, as the unexpected and disastrous shaking of what would be thought to be stable, e.g. earth or sky shake, cause to move to and fro, cause to waver or totter, make to rock (2) figuratively; (a) of a stirring up a crowd, incite, move, agitate; (b) mentally, of an individual, agitate; passive, be distressed, be upset, be shaken. So we can see in these words the idea of being shaken or to shudder in the presence of God.
Martin Luther explains the 10 commandments usually by beginning, "We should fear, love and trust in God that…." Awe speaks of this kind of fear. There was a time not that many years ago when some Christians felt that we should not fear God, that that is a misunderstanding of the God of love. Though I wanted to believe that, I could not escape the fact that we are told even in the New Testament that we should fear God. For example we read in 1 Peter 2:17 (ESV), "Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
I love the lines from C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where Mr. Beaver says to Susan, “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
There is nothing about God that is safe. Sitting in a rocking chair reading a good book by a warm fire is fairly safe, unless the book asks you to do something; following God is not safe.
Paul Tripp defines Awe in this way: “That which consumes you, that blows you away, that becomes the object of your worship, that you believe meets your needs. I.e. becomes your God. If you don’t have the awe of God you will look to other things to fill the void.” A part of being in awe is to be blown away. That last part is the crux of the matter. Human beings are created to experience awe, so you will either be in awe of God or in awe of something else.
In the Bible people are awed when contemplating world events, when contemplating their own existence, when in worship, when contemplating nature, when contemplating the forgiveness of sins, when contemplating the teaching of Jesus, when witnessing a miracle, when contemplating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and when contemplating the last days. We see it in Moses on Sinai, in Isaiah's vision of Yahweh and in the disciples at the Mount of Transfiguration. Awe leads people to true Worship, worship in Spirit and truth (John 4:24).
What are the alternatives to the awe of God? Think of a teenage girl who trembles at the idea that she might be asked to the prom by the quarterback of her high school team. Think of a classic car enthusiast who dreams of owning a 1965 powder blue Jaguar XKE. Think of a music enthusiast who dreams of getting tickets to the concert of their favorite band. Think of a businessman being interviewed for the job of a lifetime. In all of these things there is a fear, a fear that it might not happen and a sense of wonder if it does. As some would say, "I can now die and go to heaven."
When we focus on the wrong things to be in awe of we have become idolaters. Paul writes in Romans 1:24, "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." We see this unfold in the Garden of Eden. The serpent got Eve to take her eyes off the Creator and to focus on the part of creation that offered her incredible knowledge. Instead of being in awe of God she was in awe of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
Paul Tripp writes: “We find a principle here, one displayed in a myriad of biblical stories: in the heart of a sinner, awe of God is very quickly replaced by awe of self. This is the great war of wars.”
The proper awe of God is expressed well in Psalm 145. Read it and notice some of the words and phrases: "I will extol you, my God and King," "his greatness is unsearchable," ”on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds". David goes on and on. I can imagine David and his mighty men gathered around the campfire after a day of battle, singing such songs of praise and awe.
I love the story of Jesus calming the storm at sea. After the disciples wake Him up thinking that they are all going to drown he rises and rebukes the wind and the waves and there is a great calm. Then He says, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" (Mark 4:40) Then we read, "And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'" (Mark 4:41)
What kinds of things cause you to experience the awe of God? Maybe it’s the realization that no matter how badly you have failed God forgives you. Maybe it is seeing God use you in the life of another person. Maybe it is in a direct answer to prayer.
Allow me to close with one short story that happened when our children were young. While on vacation in the Adirondack Mountains our family of 5 got thoroughly lost on a hike. We didn't see another soul for over 5 hours. We were exhausted and hungry and I was beginning to contemplate how we could make camp and hunker down for the night. Finally in exasperation our middle son, Colin (about 8 at the time), moaned "let's pray." Duh! We stopped right there and prayed together as a family that we might find our way home. No sooner had I said, "Amen," than we heard voices coming down a path, after not seeing anyone for 5 hours. It was a camp counselor and her little group of campers. She led us out to her car and then drove me back to get our car so that I could return and get the rest of the family back to our camp. She also told us to eat bananas to replace the potassium we had depleted on our hike. When I say that we were blown away, it would be an understatement. God wants to show us that He is real so that we are blown away by Him.