Pastor's Corner                                               

“An Awesome God“ 

             

     Communication happens because of words we use. And being of a generation born in the 50’s, I have seen old words evolve into different meanings and new words that had not even existed before become everyday words that we use in our means of communicating. Here are but a few examples of words that have changed in everyday meaning in the over sixty years of my existence: “The net” in my days was mainly what a basketball went through, or it divided a tennis court. Today we all use the net for our computers to communicate. “Slides” once graced every playground in our town. Today slides are the most popular shoes for teenagers to wear… rain, snow, sleet or shine! And also in my day, no one wanted a “mouse” in their house. But today, nearly everyone has a mouse in their hand at some time during the day. And some words today that we use that had no meaning just a few short years ago: “smartphone,” “5-G” and “emoji,” just to name a few.

     Which brings me to my point for this newsletter. The phrase ”Awesome God” was used throughout the Old Testament some five thousand years ago. Then fast forward to 1988, Contemporary Christian Music Artist Rich Mullins wrote, sang and released his first recorded hit, “Awesome God.” It was number one on all formats of Christian Radio for six weeks and stayed in the top 10 for two years. In 1990 his song was nominated for Gospel Song of the Year, Worship Song of the Year and Inspirational Song of the Year. And by 1992, this song was widely sung by church congregations all around the world. Matter of fact, it is even in our hymnal. Because of this one song, the church has made what an “Awesome God” means into something totally different than the biblical meaning. So often when someone gets an answered prayer they say, “What an Awesome God.” Or when someone gets a new job, a new car, much needed rain or a trip to Europe… one acknowledges an “Awesome God.” But if one examines what the Bible (and even Rich Mullins) meant by Awesome God, we might need to rethink our saying. My 1909 Webster Dictionary says this of awesome – “power that demands respect or terror.” In Greek it means “in fear, fright, alarm – a healthy respect.” In Hebrew it means “to fear with respect.” In other words, because God is an Awesome God, He rules and judges righteously and because He does, we should give respect to His commands in His Word. God went through great lengths to justify us by sacrificing His only Son, not just so we could be happy that He answered our prayer or blessed us with rain, therefore He is an Awesome God. No, He is an Awesome God because He judges righteously and He loves His own, which is you and me because we chose to follow His Son, Jesus. Now that is an Awesome God!

     Here is a new word: “Google” Rich Mullins’ song… and sing what it really means to have an ”Awesome God.”

Blessings to all,

Pastor Paul