Are You in Awe of God?

 
If you are at all like me, you enjoy looking at pictures and re-living the memories those photos bring back to your mind. Plus, with so many electronic devices at our fingertips we can take that quick shot and it only takes a small amount of electronic space to store today’s photos, unlike the photos, in the past, we had to print in order view them and reminisce.
 
Perhaps your photo that you’re remembering now is a sunset where you and your and family quietly sat and pondered the beauty of the changing colors in the sky.
 
Or maybe your photo is a view from a high place you all climbed with physical exertion and were amazed, upon reaching the top, at how far you could see in multiple directions.
 
A photo I was looking at recently was one made when my youngest son was around two years old, and we were at Edisto Beach visiting family.
 
My wife, our unofficial family photographer, captured the wonder on Anders’ face as he saw the ocean for the first time. The sheer wonderment in his eyes and the expression on his face in that photo communicates so much amazement, that had to be going through his mind, at how huge that body of water was.
 
He had never seen that much water.
 
He could not see the end of it.
 
He could see and hear the waves crashing onto the shore then retreating with sea shells tinkling like ocean chimes as they rolled back in the surf.
 
I was sharing this insight with my friend, Mike Osterhoudt, and after reflecting some, he asked me, “Danny, are you still in awe of God like Anders was in awe of the ocean?”
 
Gulp.
 
Many times, I’ve not been. I’m often more amazed at what man has built or created than what my Heavenly Father has crafted.
 
He put processes in place for the waves not to surpass their boundary and follow a cycle day in and day out…for sunrises and sunsets to be so amazing as the light is refracted and reflected, and the sky seems to change minute by minute…for the seasons to change so slowly which allows us to enjoy such variety…and so much more.
 
Psalm 33:8 exhorts us: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” [emphasis mine].
 
So I encourage you to take time to pull away, unplug, and quiet your mind and body and spirit. And observe nature in your part of our planet Earth.
 
As you sit in quietude, observe the design of the flower, the motion of the ants, the flight of a bee or a bird, the drifting clouds, the planets in the night sky, the constellations of stars, etc.
 
Then ponder that there is a Creator who loves you enough to put on the “show” that you’re seeing.
 
And thank Him…and be in awe of Him.

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