Trust and Awe

God's peace be with you. Psalm 40 verse 4 says, “Many shall look on in awe and they shall trust in the Lord.” We trust in Jesus as we are in awe of God. This addresses two opposing postures that Christians find themselves in at times.

On the one hand, the greater God is awesome and majestic, and we are mere humans with our weak flesh. He is all powerful and apart from Him we are nothing. So we just look to God as someone to be feared and our obedience becomes legalistic. On the other hand, we look to Jesus who became one like us, accepting sin and who accepts us as His friends. He is our brother who will do anything for us. We just need to ask the Father in his name and our prayer will be granted. And so we look to God as a nice, loving person who always accepts us and who would never condemn anyone to eternal fire.

You can see that there is a lot of truth to both postures about, but each posture brings its own dangers. We can end up cringing in fear of this awesome God, or we can be so casual and familiar in a relationship with Him that we oftentimes will take Him for granted, to be called on only in times of trouble. On the one hand, God is so far away and seemingly inaccessible, while on the other hand he is so near and so accessible, we are no longer in awe of Him. Such is the mystery of God, so far and yet so near. To be feared as an awesome God, yet to be loved and drawn near to as a loving brother. To be obeyed but with a yoke that is easy and light. The One who is the internal unseen, but who was seen walking the Earth among men.

Jesus Himself is King and Lord of all, but came not to be served, but to serve. He is Master, but a suffering servant. We owe Him our very lives, but it was He who offered His life for our sake. And so we trust in Jesus even as we are in awe of the Almighty.

Such trust and awe were inherent in the story of Job. God allowed him to suffer at the hands of the evil One, even though he was righteous and blameless. He could not understand why. He became embittered, but in the end he yielded to the awe and Majesty of God, accepting what he just could not understand. In the same way, in our own lives, we may be presented with many questions and challenges as to how God acts. Why is there suffering in the world if God is loving and in control? Why are the good afflicted while the bad thrive? How does the justice and righteousness of God align with the great injustice and unrighteousness in the world? Why does God allow Satan to afflict his faithful people?

These are all very challenging, but at the same time, our reflections should yield a greater understanding of the mystery that is God. A relationship with God should deepen where we, like Job, can really begin to see God.

God desires to bring us to greater Holiness and to do greater work for His Kingdom. In this, God challenges us to understand the purpose of affliction and suffering in the world. After all, this is the way of the cross and the only way of discipleship.

How awesome is God! How awesome is His great love for us! How awesome is the privilege He affords us in his work of Salvation in the world. We rejoice in hope as we continue to fully trust in Him. God bless you.