In my own personal spiritual journey, I believe I have failed to understand and recognize who God truly is. I have seen this in my generation as well. We have rightfully come to see God as our best friend, one who is always with us, even as He promised Joshua saying, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). This is a comforting thought.
But in our attempt to understand God as caring and loving Father, we have forgotten the fact that He is still God. God of me, my world, the universe I know, and so much more beyond that. He is the living God who spoke the world into being and created something out of absolutely nothing. He can hold the world in His hand and still live inside of me, truly incomprehensible.
I have been reading a book called “The Knowledge of the Holy” by A.W. Tozer. Written in the 1960’s, the book rings even truer today than it did then. He talks much about understanding who God is in all of His holiness. Tozer warns of becoming too buddy-buddy with God and forgetting that He is a perfect God (i.e. losing our reverence for Him).
I fall into this category at times. Getting comfortable with God, I just say a quick prayer here and there or put other things in my life a higher priority than spending time with Him. Whether intentionally or not, I fall back on the fact that He loves me and He will always be there. Comforting as it may be, this relaxed attitude puts me in great jeopardy of losing true reverence for the God of the universe.
Isaiah had an encounter with God through a vision that certainly woke him up. Isaiah 6:3-4 describes a part of the vision saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory. At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” Such an encounter would wake me up as well. Can you imagine the doorposts and thresholds shaking?
My prayer is that I learn again to worship God for who He is – whether I do it by myself or corporately – to offer Him the reverence and honor He deserves.
Do you find yourself becoming buddies with God and losing your reverence of Him? How do you strike that balance between knowing Him as your intimate Savior and still respecting His majesty as ruler of the universe?
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