Our God is an Awesome God

 

Awesome. Those who love God often reserve this adjective for God alone. Awesome pizza and awesome sunsets seem inappropriate in comparison to our awesome God! Besides, the Hebrew word means “to be inspiring awe or reverence or fear.”

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. (Exodus 34:10)

These descriptions are connected to God’s deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt, a picture of my deliverance from sin. When I think of awesome, it should always be in connection to what God has done for me in salvation, redemption, making me His child just as He delivered them.

You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. (Deuteronomy 7:21)

This verse is God’s Word to the people whom He delivered but then they balked in fear of the “giants” in the promised land and refused to take possession. It is a picture of my spiritual battles to defeat the giant liar who does what he can to keep me from the abundant life promised by Jesus Christ.

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. (Deuteronomy 10:17)

Here God reminds me that even though He is powerful and great, His gifts are freely given. I don’t have to say to Him anything that sounds like, “God, if You do . . . then I will serve You forever.” I cannot bribe God for His favors. He does operate on that basis!

“Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. (Nehemiah 9:32–33)

Nehemiah’s prayer is almost a continuation of the previous thoughts. God keeps His promises and His love. Life has struggles and hardships and God does not demean them. He cares when I struggle yet at the same time, my struggles are nothing compared to what this awesome God has the right to do because of my sin.

Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God! (Psalm 68:35)

Not only is God merciful to deliver, and gracious to help me when trials come, He gives me power and strength to live for Him. That is awesome!

One more thing, the word “awesome” is used in the Old Testament in the best translations but not in the NT. There, when an OT verse using that word is quoted, the Greek word used is “magnificent” — suggesting to me that the fear and dread that accompany OT awe becomes stronger in the NT with more the idea of veneration and worship because Jesus Christ came and revealed to us a much fuller understanding of our awesome God.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY: I will not ever be “awesome” but I can worship in awe of God. I can also “not accept bribes” in relationship to others, loving them without them needing to earn it. I can keep my promises, care about those who struggle even when they caused their own problems. I must keep on fighting the good fight against that enemy who desires to divert me from seeing the awesome wonder of God.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12–13)