Awesome!

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. (Psalm 33:6-9 ESV).

Mary and I just returned from Tennessee recently. It is always entirely too brief a visit for us. We enjoyed seeing friends and the fellowship of our former church, Santa Fe Baptist Church. I was also able to visit with one of God’s most faithful men, Buddy Burns. Buddy was a trustee when I went to the church as pastor. He remained in that position throughout my tenure there. During that five years he fell from a ladder shattering his ankle and injuring his back. I was able to get to know him in a very different way during his convalescence. Never did I hear him complain, even when I knew he was in a great deal of pain. He did recover and our relationship continued to develop. He and his wife, Daisy, were avid enthusiasts of the outdoors. She died during that time. After sixty-two years of marriage, he responded with trust and faith in the goodness of God. At the time of my most recent visit he was once again in the nursing home as a result of an injury. Because of the complication from the injury Buddy died the week after we left. I wish we could have returned for the memorial service; however, the time we spent just talking about hunting, fishing, and the Smoky Mountains in the fall was wonderful. He had an incredible sense of awe in the Lord. That brought me to some thoughts for today. The word awesome is used in way too familiar a way these days. It’s used entirely too commonly. Awe, in a biblical sense, is not being wowed or star struck or even giddy in the presence of celebrity. It’s a reverent holy fear. It’s being made speechless by comprehending in a greater way something of the magnitude of God’s holiness and power. It’s a holy fear and a respect for the Almighty. Buddy had that; and, he spoke in such a way that you knew how he felt about his God and Savior. Seeing the power of God to radically change people’s lives is the kind of thing that renders us awestruck. Of course there are indications of God’s greatness in many ways. Some of these things have grown mundane by their familiarity and dependability. We don’t often see the truly stop-you-in-your-tracks kind of power and greatness we deem as “miraculous.” However, the awesome nature of God is not merely in these things. I’m going to use November to take inventory of those more mundane things in my life that ought to strike me as awesome. Perhaps you will join me in this journey. Today’s first awesome work of God is the changing of the leaves. It is common in its occurrence and completely awesome in its display of power and design!