YOU CALLED GOD AWESOME

Ethan jeered as if I had committed a theological snafu: “You called God awesome.”  This was part of my evening meal blessing. With the “amen” barely past my lips, my fourteen-year old nephew gave his editorial.

It was a week long summer gathering at my father-in-law’s lake house. At every evening meal he would stoically nod at me, “You going to pray?” How do you pray when most of the people gathered are not Christians? Especially since others besides Ethan have felt entitled to comment immediately following the prayers’ conclusions.

Now Ethan toned his remark as a question. He never goes to church, so “awesome” relates to his world. He might think about his dad’s new laptop computer, his brother’s two-thousand dollar digital camera, or movie special effects.

So praying: “God, You are awesome,” introduced Ethan to an unfamiliar way of thinking about God.

And he’s probably never read the many biblical references to God like this one out of Deuteronomy. "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God . . .”

Who can even exactly say what the word “awesome” implies?

How about this from Webster’s Dictionary? “To express a profoundly humble and reverential attitude in the presence of deity; abashed fear inspired by authoritative power.”

Can we even approach the thought of our own littleness set before God—the creator of the universe?  Some adjustments need to be made.

It’s simple to call God awesome. Yet someone like Ethan will not connect to our meaning. But what if I, what if you, lived a life reflecting the awesomeness of God?

God, today—help me to cast a glint of who You truly are into my world.