One of my favorite songs by Sidewalk Prophets is called, “Everything in Awe”. It talks about how even the galaxies turn to look in the direction of their Creator. The beauty of the Lord awes all of creation. As I listened to this song on the way home the other day, my gaze lifted heavenward.
The Psalms tell us that the heavens declare the glory of God. They point to the power of the One who sits enthroned there. He alone has power over the elements of which we humans have absolutely no control.
(Have you ever tried to stop the wind? Told the rain to end? Held up a hand to cause tsunami waves to halt? Controlled the hail or snow? Walked on water?)
I find it amazing and sad to think that we can look at the beauty of a flower or taste the sweetness of a favorite fruit or watch the birth of a child and not see a miracle of grace. Flowers, fruit, and the fruit of a womb begin with the tiniest of seeds, from something smaller than my baby thumbnail, yet God makes these amazing things grow.
How is it possible that we fail to see the awe? When did our reverence for the sacred fall away?
Is anything considered sacred or awe-inspiring anymore? Because from where I sit, I see most of us looking across or down or inward but not up.
Right now the world seems focused on terror and the U.S. election and not necessarily in that order. There is so much fear. Fear of people. Fear of loss. Fear for safety. Fear of government. Fear of change. Fear of no change.
Fear strips us of the ability for awe. Fear of people is the wrong kind of fear. Fear of people puts our focus on men and women just like us instead of true reverential fear of one MUCH greater than we are.
Psalm 146:3-4 says, “Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.”
Happens to all of us, doesn’t it? If someone is looking to me for rescue, may God have mercy on him or her! I am made of dust the same as anyone else. So is every leader in every branch of government in every nation. So is every spiritual leader or teacher. So is everyone who takes the mantle on their shoulders to boost our confidence and tell us that they can fix everything.
No. They. Can’t.
And we need to realize that if we’re looking horizontal for a savior of our world, our planet, our solar system, our climate, our social issues, we are looking in the wrong direction.
We’ve lost the awe.
Have you never stopped to think about what it really would mean if there is no one in charge of this universe except us? Pause on that a moment.
We can’t control the universe, the world, not even our next breath. We have no power over life or death. And yet we deny the One who does. Would we really rather live with the hopeless belief in chaos?
King David said, “I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles. Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue; I will proclaim your greatness. Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness; they will sing with joy about your righteousness. The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone.” (Psalm 145:5-9a NLT)
And yet we don’t meditate on God and His majesty. We meditate on things we call positive thinking and focus on having the right energy to hopefully get us past the anxiety and depression and the many things that remind us at a heart level that we really do not have control.
And we never will.
But we can stand in awe of the One who does. We can declare His goodness to each one of us. We can turn around and go back, away from the path of horizontal seeking and look up to see the glory of God.
It’s everywhere if you have eyes to see it. God gave us so much wonder and beauty and we don’t have to take it for granted.
We don’t have to fear losing Him, no matter how bad the world seems sometimes. No matter who wins the election. No matter how deep the pit we have fallen into, God can lift us out.
When He does…that’s when we will finally start to look at Him in awe…just like the rest of His creation already does.
