Monday I had the day off work... to celebrate a hero in our nations history- Martin Luther King Jr. So glad that we honor this man, but also selfishly thankful for the day off to rest and watch JAG. :)
In the afternoon, I lit some candles and curled up with my Bible to read through Isaiah. I read chapters 1-35 in one sitting. Reading about the Lord's power and His holiness, reminded me that our God is no teddy bear. Even though I believe that God is mighty and just, I often choose not to think about the fierce aspect of these qualities. Instead, I find myself content to worship a God of my own making- one whose grace extinguishes His hatred for sin. It was overwhelming to see so much death and destruction and judgment and wrath being poured out.
As I headed to SLAM, my mind and heart were swirling with the weight of this message of punishment. I was not feeling ready to intercede for the night or talk to anyone really. Somewhere in the opening time, the Holy Spirit gave me such a Spirit of praise and understanding that this same wrath could have been poured out on me, yet God has withheld it. And knowing the depth of God’s power caused me to appreciate all the more the depth of His grace to spare me from that and pour it out on His Son instead. I was overwhelmed in such a sweet way with how great our God is. And also feeling a deep sense of reverent fear rising in me. And thankful to be at SLAM. Dave brought the Word and it was all about the Gospel and what it truly means to be repentant. He also had this guy share his testimony- 2 years ago he was a heroin addict and now he’s clean and a ref at SLAM. Only God’s power can do that and it is so spectacular!!!
Seeing a glimpse of the true nature of God has caused me to reflect on the way I think about worship. So many times I have thought of worship as being very familiar with God... and there is an aspect of knowing Him that I do not want to diminish; we do worship Him because of what we know about Who He is. But it would be a tragedy if in becoming so familiar we lost our sense of awe and wonder that this God would show any regard for me at all... that He would call me by name... that He would ransom my soul through the sacrifice of His own Son... that He would know the number of hairs on my head...that He would have plans of a hope and a future for me...that He would give me breath...that He would not strike me dead when He hears my thoughts...that He would know my every move... Like the Psalmist I could not help but be overcome with the reality of this. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it." (Psalm 139:6)
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