Awesome

One songwriter penned it well.  “Our God is an awesome God.”

Text for Today – Psalm 48:1-2 – Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.  Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

Look at the first four words of our Text for Today.  One word, “is,” is in italics, meaning it was added for clarification.  That’s alright with me, but read that opening declaration without the word “is.”  “Great the Lord.”  Down through history, there have been leaders who names have become synonymous with greatness, and have even had “the Great” attached to their names in recognition of that greatness (names like Alexander the Great, or Peter the Great).  During their reigns, the nations they ruled stood in awe of them.  They lived and fought to conquer and reign.  They are dead today, and their kingdoms are no more.

However, the life and kingdom of our Ruler is different.  He came, having emptied Himself of all divine privilege.  He demonstrated how to walk in victory before the battle for His kingdom.  The He suffered and died to remove every excuse from our path so we could enjoy living in a kingdom, which at that moment, was yet to come.  He won His greatest victory AFTER His death, and the moment of crowning glory for that victory was at His Own resurrection.  Now that’s AWESOME!   

Now He lives forevermore, of His kingdom there shall be no end, and He has declared Himself to be the door of that kingdom.  What makes that so AWESOME for you and me is that He has said, Whosoever will, let him come.”  v

Whatever you do, don’t lose the AWE from the AWESOMENESS of God.  Too many people have, and to them, Jesus is little more than a character in history.  I can tell you that my AWESOME Lord is much more than that.  He is my Savior, Healer, Provider, Deliverer, Brother, Friend, Advocate, Mediator, Intercessor, and much more.  Once again, I remind you to NEVER lose the AWE in the AWESOMENESS of God.  Here are the words the Lord spoke to my heart about the danger of losing or forgetting the AWESOMENESS of God.  “When one loses the AWE from the AWESOMENESS of God, what one has left is much of self and some of God.  That is absolutely costly, and ultimately fatal.”  It would serve us well to recall the words of John, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”  Now that’s AWESOME!

Manna for Today – Psalm 136