Exalting God

As we slowly and carefully made our way down the deserted streets we sat in silence.  Some houses were totally destroyed while others had been completely separated from their foundation and moved hundreds of feet away.  Cars were overturned and the smell of death was in the air.  Just days before Hurricane Katrina had left its undeniable mark upon the landscape of Pass Christian, Mississippi; the destruction was catastrophic.  My team’s mission that day was to provide much needed supplies for the local law enforcement officials.

As they shared their stories of survival amidst tremendous wind and mountains of water flooding their community, our entire team sat in awe.  We were in awe of their bravery.  It is amazing what man can do when placed in such overwhelming situations.  We were in awe of the destructive power produced by hurricanes.  There was nothing we could say.  There was very little we could do.  We just sat there in silence.

While I certainly do not hope for the destruction, pain and death brought about by the likes of hurricanes, I personally long for the sense of wonder it produced in my life.  Imagine for a moment what life would be like as a Christian if we were so overwhelmed by the power of God that we simply sat in silence before Him?  Imagine being in such awe of God’s love for us that words quickly proved insufficient to express our love for Him?  What would our witness for Christ be like if we were genuinely amazed at the power of the gospel for the salvation of all who believe?  Truly, the world would not know what to think or do.

I began to evaluate my own sense of wonder for God a few months ago as my church was preparing for a series of revival services.  At first my prayers centered on people expressing their new found faith in Christ as their Savior.  However, as I continued to pray, God burdened my heart with what revival is truly about.  Revival is about Christians being startled from their slumber.  It is about nominal Christians being overwhelmed by a torrential flood of God’s glory and the far-reaching ramifications of the gospel.  In short, it is about living in awe of God.  So prayer is the Christian’s first step towards revival.  We must be praying that God would flood our souls with the undeniable, unequaled and unmatched power of the Holy Spirit.

All too often we allow one of the greatest aspects of our salvation, which is the privilege of constant and intimate communion with God, to slip past us because we stop desiring Him once we have received the benefits of salvation.  We must not stop here!  Instead, our passion must be to draw closer to God as we learn to live more like Christ.  The reason for this common tendency can be illustrated through a simple piece of playground equipment – the see-saw.

It is probably safe to assume that the vast majority of us have been on a see-saw at some point in our lives.  We likely all remember the fun of rising high in the air as our friend sunk lower to the ground, only to have our positions quickly reversed.  We both wanted to be high in the air, but the nature of the see-saw required that only one person be lifted up at a time.  One person had to be at ground level.  The same is true for the relationship between people and God.  Both God and man cannot be lifted up at the same time.  If I think too highly of myself, then my understanding of God will fall.  However, when I think rightly of God and exalt Him above all, then He is lifted up and I am brought low.  This latter scenario should be our goal, for when God is exalted in our minds the doors of communication are opened.  Yet, when we resort to lifting ourselves above Him, the doors are shut because we have placed ourselves above our Creator.  Sadly, there is a painful reality of thinking too highly of ourselves – we do not desire that which is below us.

This leads us to a second step toward developing a sense of wonder for God: we must make an honest, biblical assessment of our lives.  Ask yourself, “Am I placing myself above God?”  One of the most common hindrances to personal revival is a direct result of being on the high end of the see-saw.  All too often we are guilty of reading the Bible through me-focused lenses when the reality is that it is not a self-help manual!  Rather, it is the very word of God, breathed out by Him so that we could have access to Him and know all that He desires for us to know about Him.  Yes, it answers the many and varied questions of life, but its chief purpose is to tell us about Him, not us.  Therefore, we need to realize that our lives lack the spiritual vitality that characterized the early church in Acts because we desire self-fulfillment over communion with God.

The last step I will mention is obvious.  As we prayerfully assess our lives and acknowledge whatever roadblocks are in our lives – some common obstacles are apathy, anger, busyness or ignorance – we must follow up with action.  Consider how Job responded to God after coming to terms with God’s sovereignty.  He simply covered his mouth (Job 40:3-5).  Or what about Isaiah?  When he was confronted with the majesty and holiness of God he cried out, “Woe is me, for I am lost” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV).  He captures his emotions well, “For my eyes have seen the king!”  Friends, we all need to see the King.  We need to stand with Isaiah and take action.  Not long after his encounter with God he said quite simply, “Here am I God, send me.”  It was not duty or obligation that motivated Isaiah, it was amazement.  He had seen the King and he became fully convinced that the only rational response he could make was to exalt God and offer his life in sacrificial living for Him.

The world needs to see more Isaiah’s, for they, along with too many Christians, have lost their wonder of God.  Some are merely apathetic, but sadly more and more go beyond apathy towards antagonism.  They intentionally deny the existence of God and berate those who align themselves with Him.  Truly, the world does not need Christians that reflect them; they need Christians who reflect Christ and His glory.  They need Christians who live in awe of God simply because of who He is.  I pray that a multitude of Christians would wake from their slumber to the awesome realization of God’s glory and the power of His gospel, for the world needs to see Christ in us.