Hebrews 12:28-29

Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.

It’s important that we never lose a sense of amazement that we are able to worship God at all. When Isaiah entered the temple after the death of King Uzziah (recorded in Isaiah 6) he was completely overwhelmed by the experience. As he saw the holiness of God, he recognised how unholy he was and how unholy his society was. When we worship God, whether quietly by ourselves or in a church service, we should never rush unthinkingly into his presence or think that it is a small matter that we are worshipping the God of creation. In our verses today the writer encourages his readers to worship God with holy fear and awe. Yes, God loves us more completely than we have ever been loved before, but he is also a devouring fire. He is absolutely holy and anything that is not holy is burned up in his presence.

We can approach God with great confidence, but that must never lead us to take the privilege for granted. While he is our friend, we must never lose that sense of God being infinitely greater than us and absolutely holy. Our God is awesome, which means that when we worship him we will sometimes feel overwhelmed by his presence.

As we looked at in January, creation will often help us as we think of the awesomeness of God. Gaze into the night sky and it is possible to see between 2,000 and 3,000 stars on a clear night. That’s great but you need to remind yourself that our galaxy is composed of between 100 and 400 billion stars. That’s our home! Then, as mentioned previously, there are more than 200 billion galaxies in total. My brain is not able to cope with these gigantic numbers but I can go: “Wow!” and acknowledge that God is absolutely awesome. He is surely worthy of the very best that we can bring to him in our worship.

Question

What comes into your mind when you think of the awesomeness of God?

Prayer

Almighty God, help us to learn more of what it means to worship you with holy fear and awe. Amen