Introduction
Last week, I told you that as a Christian, I love God and because I do love God I do not want to take advantage of do-overs in my life because I drifted away from God. Make no mistake about it, God is gracious and will give me as many do-overs as I need, but I want to limit them because I know every time I drift away from God, it hurts Him, and it hurts me, I suffer consequences too. So, I want to keep the course. I want to keep the faith. In fact, I believe that it is a worthwhile goal for me and for every Christian in this room to have as few do-overs in our life as possible.
If we are going to do just that and have just a few do-overs, we must be honest with ourselves. In fact, we are commanded to be honest with ourselves. Proverbs 3:21-22 (NIV)
21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;
22 they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.
And so, in my soul searching, I have realized this: Everyone of us have been given a sense of awe. When that awe is directed toward God, everything is fine in my life. When I take that sense of awe off God and put it on myself or his creation (something less than God), I am putting myself in a bad situation, a situation where I might find myself having to use a do-over.
Let me tell you what “awe” is by use of a Scripture found in Psalms. I am quoting from Psalm 33:8 (NKJV)
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
First, that Scripture tells me that “awe” is something everyone has of us have otherwise the Scripture can not tell all the inhabitants of the earth to have awe of God. Secondly, we are told to direct our awe to God which tells me that I control my awe and that I can place my “awe” on God or something other than God. Thirdly, there is a relationship between awe and fear. It is my fear of a Holy Powerful God that created the heavens and earth and everything in it that drives my awe. I look at what He does or has done and say wow; that’s my God; He is awesome. So, if I lose my awe for God then I lost my fear of a Holy Powerful God and put something else ahead of Him; that spells spiritual danger in my life.
I do not want to lose my awe of God; so, I want to know how King David kept his sense of awe when things were caving in around him. I want to see what he did so I can apply that to my life. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Psalm 27:1-4. In this Psalm David is fleeing for his life either because King Saul wants to kill him early on in his life; or it would be his son Absalom who wants to kill him later down the road. But in either case, David never lost his awe. And I want to know how?
Scripture
Psalm 27:1-4 (NKJV)
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident.
4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
POINT #1
DAVID NEVER LOST HIS AWE OF GOD BECAUSE HE SAW GOD FIRST AND PRIMARY IN HIS LIFE; EVERYTHING ELSE WAS SECONDARY.
Look at how David starts off this Psalm, he does not talk about the people chasing him. In fact, through the whole Psalm he never gives us a name, so we do not know with certainty if it is King Saul or Absalom who is pursing him when he is writing this psalm. He describes them only as the wicked and his enemies in verse 2.
2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
Now let’s suppose someone is after me to hurt me- let’s say it is one of deacons. Let’s just pick Jim Stewart. While I am running and hiding out so old Jim cannot find me, I get a call on my cell phone from Dale. And Dale starts the conversation, what’s going on. I can promise you the first words out of my mouth probably would not have been: you know Dale “The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life”. The first words out of my mouth would probably be that old crazy Jim is after me and I need to get to a safe place.
David response is that he is in awe of God. My response to Dale is that I am in awe of seeking a safe place. A safe place is what I am focusing on and not God, which tells me I got to be careful because just living life can steal your awe. Life is full of varying type of situations that can steal your awe. Let me give you an example of two:
I see a new home and want it so badly that I am willing to put extra hours in at the job during the weekdays and on the weekends so I can swing buying that place. I neglect church and reading my Bible and my prayer time is suffering. That house became my awe and I transferred my awe from God to that new home.
Your older children just cannot get their act together and you worry to death that something is going to happen to them because of their lifestyle. Everything you do is focused on those kids and helping them out. You might have just placed your awe on your children and took it off God.
David said no; this situation is not changing my awe; God is my awe.
Point #2
DAVID NEVER LOST HIS AWE OF GOD BECAUSE HE HAD MORE THAN JUST A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; HE HAD PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH GOD.
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
Knowledge is having heard or read that God is salvation; personal experience is that I have experienced God’s salvation in my life. Knowledge is having heard or read that God is mighty; personal experience is that I have experienced firsthand God’s strength in my life.
Knowledge won’t help you to keep your awe of God; personal experience will. Let me show you.
1 Samuel 17:36-37 (NKJV)
36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God."
37 Moreover David said, "The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!"
David is saying that based on personal experiences with God, I am in awe of God and not afraid of this Philistine. Saul and the men of Israel who had a knowledge of the God of the Jews but no claims to personal experiences, they were in awe of the giant Goliath and not in awe of God.
That is why it is so important that you recorded it somewhere preferably the front of your Bible when God does something in your life that you think is awesome because at some point in your life you may need to recall that event to keep that awe of God in the next battle you face.
In Psalm 27, David is recalling the victories over the bear and the lion; David is recalling the victory over the Philistine, Goliath. And so as either Saul or Absalom is chasing him, those personal experiences allow him to retain his awe of God.
Do you have personal experiences where God has done something awesome in your life?
Point #3
DAVID NEVER LOST HIS AWE OF GOD BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT HIS AWE OF GOD IS WHAT KEPT HIS LIFE ON TRACK.
4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.
The Bible commands us in Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
David tells us in this Psalm what it takes to seek first the kingdom of God- To keep my awe on God. David begins the Psalm by showing us that his awe is on God. And one thing I have desired of the Lord. His awe kept him on track.
If you put your awe on other things, I can promise you when you go to God, you will have a shopping basket full of things you desire of the Lord.
If your life is off track, I can tell you that you lost your awe for God. And what does it tell us to do in Hosea 14:1- Return to the Lord.
Let us pray.
