“For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth.” Psalm 47:2
Awesome: extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear; breathtaking, awe-inspiring, magnificent, wonderful, amazing, stunning, staggering, imposing, stirring, impressive; formidable, fearsome, dreaded; excellent, marvelous…
These words from a woman undergoing treatment for an aggressive cancer stopped me in my tracks:
How do we know the God we serve and say we believe in is an awesome God if we are never in a situation where we need an awesome God? How do we know He can do the impossible if we never have to trust Him for the impossible? How do we know He can make a way out of no way if we’re never in a situation where there is no way out? I have a wonderful opportunity before me right now through this illness. I am getting a glimpse of how incredibly awesome my God is! And right now, I feel grateful!
It is certainly possible to declare God as awesome merely by believing what is stated in the Bible. In the same way, it possible to declare the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains or the European Alps by merely seeing pictures in a travel book. But it quite another thing to stand close, look up at snowy peaks and be amazed by their breath-taking beauty. Those who hike these mountains say they quite literally stagger with awe as they climb the slopes, then reach the peaks shrouded in clouds.
My friend is not looking at God through words on a page. She is not hearing about His strength, power and love from a sermon. She lies on a bed unable to perform the simplest tasks of her former life as powerful medicines drip into her body. She is in an impossible, no way out situation. And she declares God to be awesome.
Father God, may we practice looking at you, high and lifted up, even as we call you “Papa.” Thank you that in your royal magnificence you still reach down to touch us in our beds.
How can you practice becoming aware of God as awesome? How have you seen Him as such?
By Marilyn Ehle
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• God Is… Articles and Compositions
• There is Nothing Beyond Your Reach – by Mark Doyle
• HE IS! – a powerful poem about God
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