Delight & Be In Awe

 

 

I recently had a baby. A huge deal, I know. It was definitely a vastly life-affecting event. One of the parts I will never, ever forget is the moment that the nurse handed me my darling baby girl for the very first time. Her tiny body, the one I could hardly believe I had actually carried for 9 months, lay in my arms. She was here, on the “outside”, with the rest of us, where we could all be in awe of this incredible life. That was just the first moment of awe out of many in the past month and a half. In fact, the past 6 weeks of my life have been spent being in awe of this little life that I get to watch grow and change.

As I have experienced this, it made me wonder, “what would my life look like if I was so constantly in complete, reverent awe of the God who made this little life?”. And then I wonder, “what would the body of Christ look like if we were all in such constant awe of the God we worship?”.

When I look at my daughter, admiring her comes very naturally to me. That is because I know who she is. I’ve studied her character and watched her little quirks and habits begin to take shape. I know her by name, and I know her many names, affectionately given by me and her father. Just knowing that she is my daughter is all the reason needed to explain why I would adore her so.

It is similar with God. For an awe to flow naturally from our being into worship of our Creator, we must study His character and know Him intimately.

If we are in Christ, God is our Father. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” [Romans 8.16-17a]. Because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the Cross, we can become children of God. J.I. Packer puts the wonder of this together the best,

“To be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is even greater.”

― J.I. Packer

We can know our Heavenly Father so intimately, that we even know Him by name and know the many names for Him. Yahweh. King of Kings. Beloved. Messiah. Strong Tower.

As we dwell on the Father, soaking in who He is, we come to a place of awe and worship. We do not just worship when we stand in church, lift our hands, and sing a song of praise. That is definitely praise and we can most certainly be in awe when we do that, but it doesn’t start or end there. We worship God by knowing and enjoying Him.

“The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.”

― John Piper

Our life’s purpose is found in enjoying and being in awe of God. When we know who God is, that He is the one who IS joy//love//peace, all these things we crave out of life, the worship tends to flow naturally from this knowledge.

Now, if you’re like me, you’ve had those times when the flesh gets in the way, and even the knowledge of God’s greatness is not enough to strike you with awe. This is where we cannot let go of the Truth of who God says He is. But, we often need more than that. We need the Holy Spirit to fuel the flame of our passion for God. When we are lacking awe for Christ, we must get on our hands and knees and petition the Holy Spirit to intervene. To kindle our love for the One who always loves us perfectly. Simultaneously knowing who God is and leading our hearts towards enjoyment of Him is where we will know the greatest satisfaction.

Sometimes, if I’ve had a long, tiring day with my daughter and have gotten more focused on doing than enjoying her, it is the best thing to watch my husband enjoy her. Watching him come home from work and be excited about who she is and relishing in her sweetness, rekindles my awe of her as well. In a similar way, we need the body of Christ to be in awe of God with. Watching others treasure Christ reminds us of all the incredible parts of His character there are to enjoy. Hearing stories of His work to breathe life into others is often the perfect dosage of fuel to light us up to glorify God.

So, I leave you with a challenge. And I am going to be the first to accept my challenge because I need it just as much as the next guy does. If you are in a place of utter enjoyment and awe of your Savior, take this challenge and keep the flame alive! If you are in a place of questioning God’s goodness and wondering if you’ll ever have a genuine heart of adoration for Him ever again, take this challenge over and over and feel it fuel your fire. In the meantime, I will be praying that the Holy Spirit will ignite all of our fires, and we will find ourselves spread across the world, lighting up every corner of the earth with praise for our glorious Father.

The challenge: Spend time in the Word. It may feel lifeless to you at the moment, but dig into it anyway. Read in the Psalms [23, 27, 18 are all good]. Open up the pages in the Gospels [Matthew, Mark, Luke, John] and read about Christ’s life, take notice of the deep affection in His words as He talks about His Father.

It may feel extremely uncomfortable at first, but remove all distractions, and spend time in God’s presence. Go there and find rest. Or go to Him and share with Him all of the real, raw, honest struggles you are having with Him or the world or your life. Be in His presence, away from the noise of your daily life. Keep choosing to go back there day after day until you’re going because you can’t imagine doing your day without that time with your Father.

And if both of those sound too overwhelming at first, start with this one : look for your Beloved in the little things. Go about your day counting thankfulnesses for every little thing until you start to see how God is showing up in little ways all the time.

Don’t do these things to check them off your list or to earn favor with God. Do them to cultivate awe in your Father and always, always remember that His love for you is farther than the east is from the west.

Love,

Charissa