“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 9:10

Cultivating Awe and Reverence for God

Day 1

What shakes you to your core in a good way? What keeps you up at night because of great joy when you think about it? What sight makes you stop and stare at the sheer beauty or majesty of it? What words make you stop and think? What brings you deep peace in spite of turmoil?

What silences you because no words can express what you feel?

There is One Who desires to answer these questions by showing you Himself. He Who is greater, stronger, smarter, more beautiful, majestic, loving, compassionate, joyful, forgiving, and good in all His ways, is at the center of our world (whether we realize it or not)—guiding, teaching, comforting, providing, perfecting, and loving us. He is the reason we live, and move, and have our being.

For this, we should be in awe of Him. We should reverence Him.

Let’s face it: we can barely define the words awe and reverence today, much less experience them or truthfully apply them to our vision of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

By not relating to awe and reverence, we have lost something vital to our humanness, something given to us by God when He created and formed us—something, really, that He deserves. What we have lost is a deep response to who God is.

Everyone who ever lived has responded to this Center of our lives in some way or another. Many have scoffed, disbelieved, or hated Him. Most have struggled to reconcile what He says with what actually happens in life. Some serve Him and worship Him as far as they are able (and He is pleased) but they know there is more—there has to be more to the One, True, Living God. Surely He is bigger than our songs, our thoughts, our tithes, our Sunday faces we wear around others. Surely He is too big to understand—or else He would not be God. Surely He must be more powerful and more able and wiser and more beautiful than we know!

What is awe? You may be surprised to learn this: Awe is intense fear, dread, terror; it is something that has the power to inspire fear, reverence, or admiration. Awe is produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like. At first glance, this seems too negative—fear can’t be the feeling we should have for God, can it? But when we know Him fully, we will realize that while He is loving, He is also jealous; while He is good, He has provided only a narrow path; while He is just, He is also a God of wrath. This is where our dread comes in: He has inconceivable power over all things. We would be wise to respect Him.

Today we begin a 31-day series in which we will begin to cultivate a new awe and reverence for our God and Father. We will look at many ways to do this, and the reasons we should. May our lives be transformed.

“Father, cultivate awe and reverence for You in us. Only You can do this. Amen.”