To Stand In Awe

   Ever had one message confront you three different ways in a single week? That has been my experience the past couple of days. Back on Monday, I was praying about spiritual warfare, and the Lord directed my mind to Psalm 144. David is praying for God to defeat his enemies, and in the middle of that he asks, “O Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him?” (Psalm 144:3).  

   Now to be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to that verse. Sure, I read it and thought about it a little, but I was mostly focusing upon the elements of warfare and God’s help for David. Yet a night or two later, my mom mentions almost those exact words during our prayer time as a family. This thought is contained in a couple places in Scripture, and another place is Psalm 8:4, which says, “What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” This occurrence has a different context than the passage I mentioned earlier, but the thought remains the same.

   When those words were spoken in the prayer, it struck me, “Hey, I was just looking at that.” Yet still, I didn’t think much more about it. But then as I was trying to go to sleep the night before I posted this, the Lord directed me to pull up the bible App on my phone. I was trying to listen to some music, but I just felt prompted to turn to Hebrews. I didn’t know why, just that Hebrews was the book He called to mind. So I did: opened the app, went to Hebrews 1, and started the audio.

   It wasn’t very long until I heard these words: “What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?” (Hebrews 2:6). Well, that certainly got my attention. The same message three ways within a span of four days.

   As I considered what God might be trying to tell me, He showed me the lack of awe I had that He would choose a relationship with us, with me. Oh sure, I know that intellectually, but some things in my life weren’t consistent with that truth. We are so utterly unworthy of love, yet He has chosen “us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). We were at war with God, “but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  And lest we think that some of us weren’t that bad, we have to remember Paul just said, “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). The “faith” we have received “is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). And on and on and on.

   I was reminded again of the need to consider the gospel throughout the day. Not just the physical acts of what Jesus did, but why He had to go through that terrible death. He died for my sin. I am unworthy to be called His child, yet He chose me and gave His life for me. The same is true for everyone who will call on Him for salvation. “God” loves “the world,” and we know that Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient “for [the sins] of the whole world” (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). We have to call on Him, but the offer is there.

   So the challenge is this: will we choose to stand in awe of God? No, I’m not saying we can conjure up a feeling of awe just by sheer will power. Rather, as we intentionally choose to look at Jesus, to look at what He did and why, we will have to stand in awe of Him. The other choice is to go right on with life and brush it off. But we can’t. The price Jesus paid is too great.

   So will you join me in this commitment? We don’t have to pretend about it. If we truly choose to focus upon Jesus, I believe we will stand in awe of Him. Not because we’ve made ourselves do it, but because we can’t help but be amazed by our Savior’s awesome love.