Transcript
A life-shaping awe of God is always the result of grace. It's just not natural for sinners. You know that consciousness of God's presence, that wonder that is supposed to fill me is just replaced by so many other things. And I really think the place to begin in this conversation is just to confess that we just don't live in awe of God and that in ways that's meant to motivate me where the rubble meets the road in everyday life, it doesn't; that things in the word of God that should just blow me away don't; that hymns that sing or worship songs that should just make me weep at the glory don't. And pray for eyes to see and a heart to celebrate.
The Thing We Most Need Rescue From Is Us
What impresses me when in this topic is it's one of those places where you really begin to see that the thing that you and I need to be rescued from most is us and that's why Jesus had to come because, you see, I can escape a location. I can escape a relationship. I can run from a situation, but I can't run from me.
I don't know what your experience is, but I've found that whenever I try to run from me, I show up with me at the end of the run and so, part of what I pray for is, "God bring life to my cold heart. Open my eyes. Make this not okay for me. Help me to quit shopping for life when I've been given life." And you don't pray that once. You pray that many times.
Now, I'm going to spend my whole time talking on this one question, but I have to get real practical here. If you're taking notes right now, I want to give you homework because I actually think there's something we can do about this. Here's the first. I'm going to give you four words and they'll capture things. The first one is "gaze". I want to encourage you to start every day with gazing upon the awesome beauty and glory of God.
A Few Minutes at the Beginning of the Day
I'm not talking about your daily Bible reading. I'm not talking about whatever Bible study you're doing or whatever preparation for ministry you're doing. It's a few minutes in the beginning of the day where you stop, focus the eyes of your heart on God's awesome glory.
You say, "How do I do that?" Well, read Isaiah 40, which is a riff on the glory of God. It's like Isaiah stretching the human language as far as he can to capture God's glory. Or read the last few chapters of Job when God asked, "Where were you when the foundations of creation were laid," and just tears back the curtains and reveals His glory. Or read Ephesians 1 where you see the redeeming plan of God throughout the ages unfolded. Read again and again things that fill you with that awe. Just stop and gaze upon the glory of the Lord.
Second word is "remember". Remember that awesome glory has been showered down on you by grace, that those awesome things don't just define who God is, but they redefine you as God's child. Now, what that means is we have to begin to get used to arguing with our own hearts. That internal conversation, get intentional about that internal conversation. That's [Psalm] 42 where the psalmist says, "Why are you downcast, o my soul? Hope in God." You get that in Psalm 42, we get to eavesdrop on a private conversation.
The Third Word: Rest
Third word is "rest". Teach your heart to rest, not because people like you or your week has been predictable or you're physically healthy or finances are great and your kids are noble little trophies, but because God is and all that He is, He is for you by grace.
Gaze, remember, rest. Fourth word is now "act". Respond to life. Teach yourself to intentionally respond to life, not based on how easy this stuff is, but based on who God is. So like David, I do hopeful, courageous things, not because I'm smarter than people or bigger than my experience because I'm going to act on who God says He is, His awesome glory. I'm going to have that as my basis of going out toward life with hope and courage.
