Our God is an Awesome God!

Micah 1:2-4

I like the music of Rich Mullins. One of his songs is "Awesome God". Here are the lyrics:

When He rolls up His sleeves He ain't just putting on the ritz (Our God is an awesome God)

There's thunder in His footsteps And lightning in His fists (Our God is an awesome God)

And the Lord wasn't joking When He kicked 'em out of Eden It wasn't for no reason That He shed His blood

His return is very close And so you better be believing that Our God is an awesome God

And when the sky was starless In the void of the night (Our God is an awesome God)

He spoke into the darkness And created the light (Our God is an awesome God)

Judgment and wrath He poured out on the Sodom Mercy and grace He gave us at the cross I hope that you have not Too quickly forgotten that Our God is an awesome God

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Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple. 3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of His place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 4 The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

Micah 1:2-4

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There are a lot of passages that Rich could have been thinking about when he wrote those words but Micah certainly could have been one of them. The prophet describes God as being Holy and awesome in power. The earth is not able to handle His presence. He is power that this world cannot handle.

Why is it important for us to know this? Many religions worship a God they cannot know. In Christianity, we have a God that we can know. In that, there is the danger of familiarity that leads to irreverence. We must remember that God is still God and we are not in any way close to equal to Him. Because of Jesus, we have the privilege of coming into the presence of the Father in prayer. That was an opportunity that was only afforded to the High Priest in the Old Testament and then only once a year. If he went in unworthily, he would die. This was not a trivial matter. We must also remember that Jesus is God. We have access to the Father through Him, but He is the one to whom every knee will bow in judgment. He is the one in Revelation 1 who caused John to fall on his face as dead. The same Jesus who had walked the earth with John, now in His glorified body was more than John could handle. Simply put, He was awesome in the literal use of the term.

We need to remember who God is. We need to remember and worship. We need to remember and be reverent. We need to remember and obey. When we are disobedient to God, it is because we do not have a high enough view of who He is. We believe (at least in action) that we are equal to Him so that we have an equal say in matters. We do not revere Him.

In Micah, we also see that God is coming in judgment. In this particular passage, He is coming to judge Israel and Judah. However, the imagery of the mountains melting and the valleys splitting speak of the time He will come as King of Kings to this earth. This takes place after the tribulation period when Jesus will sit on the throne of David and reign as King of the whole world. This is Jesus in the book of Revelation!

Father, help us to see You high and lifted up. Help us to fall on our face in worship to You. May we never think of You as common or equal to us. When we see you in the correct light, we will obey and worship.