“Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
- from Psalm 2
In C.S. Lewis’ great children’s book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Lucy asks one of the creatures of Narnia a reasonable question about the Great Lion, Aslan (who is symbolic for Christ in this story)
____________________________________
“Is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr Beaver sternly. Certainly not! I tell you he is King of the wood and the son of the great emperor-beyond- the-sea. Don’t you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and make no mistake” said Mrs Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
____________________________________
Coming into the presence of God is not safe… and our worship of God should reflect this reality. Boredom or apathy in worship is a sure sign you are not experiencing the presence of God at that moment. Yes, I believe God is All-Present, so technically we cannot escape His presence - even if we tried. But I’m talking about “presence” in the context of relationship, where we experience a personal connection; face-to-face and heart-to-heart…
When one approaches the throne of Almighty God, it is appropriate to experience the awe and wonder of His infinite power and greatness - what many authors of Scripture have called "the fear of the Lord." But you may ask how can we be in a loving relationship with someone we're afraid of? When it comes to God, there is no escaping this tension, for to love someone at the deepest level is to know them intimately, not just be infatuated with who we want them to be, or what they can do for us. Deep love is based on intimate knowledge of the beloved, and so when it comes to God, we are drawn to Him because of His abiding love (another powerful aspect of His Character), but the moment we start to get close we experience what Isaiah felt when God gave Him a vision of a face-to-face meeting:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
When we come into the presence of God, it is normal for our hearts to overwhelmed with His greatness, and His all-knowing understanding of who we really are. So if there is any concealed sin, or corruption, or rebellion in our life, we instinctively know it will not escape God's sight and we are undone by the knowledge we stand morally naked before the One who has the most reason to be offended by our sin.
And yet, when we approach the King of Heaven and Creator of the Universe with humility and repentance, we find love and forgiveness - every time. And we realize how much this all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator-God really loves us - in spite of our weakness and failings.
Of course He's not safe. But He is Good... and he loves us anyway. What a great reason to worship!
For His Glory
Dave
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
- from Psalm 2
In C.S. Lewis’ great children’s book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Lucy asks one of the creatures of Narnia a reasonable question about the Great Lion, Aslan (who is symbolic for Christ in this story)
____________________________________
“Is he a man?” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr Beaver sternly. Certainly not! I tell you he is King of the wood and the son of the great emperor-beyond- the-sea. Don’t you know who is the King of the Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and make no mistake” said Mrs Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
____________________________________
Coming into the presence of God is not safe… and our worship of God should reflect this reality. Boredom or apathy in worship is a sure sign you are not experiencing the presence of God at that moment. Yes, I believe God is All-Present, so technically we cannot escape His presence - even if we tried. But I’m talking about “presence” in the context of relationship, where we experience a personal connection; face-to-face and heart-to-heart…
When one approaches the throne of Almighty God, it is appropriate to experience the awe and wonder of His infinite power and greatness - what many authors of Scripture have called "the fear of the Lord." But you may ask how can we be in a loving relationship with someone we're afraid of? When it comes to God, there is no escaping this tension, for to love someone at the deepest level is to know them intimately, not just be infatuated with who we want them to be, or what they can do for us. Deep love is based on intimate knowledge of the beloved, and so when it comes to God, we are drawn to Him because of His abiding love (another powerful aspect of His Character), but the moment we start to get close we experience what Isaiah felt when God gave Him a vision of a face-to-face meeting:
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
When we come into the presence of God, it is normal for our hearts to overwhelmed with His greatness, and His all-knowing understanding of who we really are. So if there is any concealed sin, or corruption, or rebellion in our life, we instinctively know it will not escape God's sight and we are undone by the knowledge we stand morally naked before the One who has the most reason to be offended by our sin.
And yet, when we approach the King of Heaven and Creator of the Universe with humility and repentance, we find love and forgiveness - every time. And we realize how much this all-powerful, all-knowing, Creator-God really loves us - in spite of our weakness and failings.
Of course He's not safe. But He is Good... and he loves us anyway. What a great reason to worship!
For His Glory
Dave