Stand in Awe / Isaiah

I love this phrase, but most of the time, it is just a phrase. How many people have said that they Stood in Awe of something. I have stood in disbelief, and I have stood in amazement, but in total awe...

the word awe just means that you are overwhelmed with reverence or admiration.

Have I ever really been overwhelmed? Have I ever been to the place where I couldn't think about anything else, or I couldn't function because of something I have seen or heard.

I was overwhelmed when Makkael and Tyler were born.. but that was joy. I was overwhelmed when we got the adoption papers for both Makkael and Tyler, but that was pure joy. I was ecstatic when I graduated with my master's - still not awe. I was overwhelmed when I heard that my dad had died. But that isn't awe, that is overwhelming grief. Awe is being overwhelmed and transfixed on something. You can't look away. You can't think about anything except what you are looking at or hearing.

When I think of standing in awe, i think of Isaiah 6. It is an amazing scripture that shows what standing in awe is. The amazing part is that at the sound of their voices... powerful and strong voices, that the doorposts and thresholds shook. Living in California, I have been through several earthquakes. The Whittier earthquake was pretty powerful. Cherie and I lived in a condo in Azusa at the time, and i watched the entire condo sway back and forth. It was really frightening and unnerving. At the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook. There is a lot of power there.

The sign of standing in awe, is that you do feel unworthy. Unworthy of just being in God's presence. Awe can cause many reactions... fear is probably the one that I would have. To stand in God's presence is something we do every second of every day of our lives. No matter what we are doing, we are doing it in God's presence. Every thought, every decision, every idea, every tear... all in God's presence.

But Isaiah experienced the majesty and the glory... Isaiah 6:1-4 says...

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

So we stand and sing songs on Sundays, all over the world, and we sing a second song, and then we sing another. And we can't wait to sit down. And then we go home. And we return the next week, sing a song, then another.... We stand and sing and wait for a feeling, or a blessing, or to feel good or entertained. Where is the awe? Where is the power? Awe is not determined by what we DO... it is all about Who God is and WHAT HE DOES. My singing a song does not change anything in the world, but God's showing "up" with His MAJESTY and His POWER causes the world to tremble. and....

i

stand

IN AWE.