The Importance of Awe

Your wickedness will punish you;

your backsliding will rebuke you.

Consider then and realize

how evil and bitter it is for you

when you forsake the Lord your God

and have no awe of me,”

declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

Jeremiah 2:19

In Jeremiah chapter two God confronts His people with their sin. They have acted like an adulterous wife and turned their backs on God to run after idols. In verse 19 God connects Israel's sin with a complete loss of awe or fear. And before I read this verse the other day, I never understood how important worship is in the life of a believer. 

Worship is simply thinking about who God is and then responding to His excellency. All forms of worship have this in common. When we worship God in song, we sing of His holiness, His grace, His power, His wonderful actions in history, and so much more. When we worship Him in prayer, we bow down in humble adoration of who He is. When we speak words of praise about Him, what do we speak about but His faithful deeds? All these forms of worship are essentially the same. We think about how great God is and then responding to it. 

This is why true worship always gives rise to an awe or a holy fear in our hearts. When we grasp even a glimpse of who God really is we are in awe. And what I never understood before is the role that this awe or fear plays in our lives. I never realized what a beneficial side effect worship could have on us. 

The awe or holy fear of God that worship stirs up in our hearts helps keep us away from sin. True worship helps prevent sin in our lives, because it gives birth to awe and fear in our heart and these naturally fight against willful sin. 

So take some time today to attack the sin in your life by cultivating worship. Think about who He really is, how big He is, how powerful He is, how good is. Grasp just how far beyond your comprehension He is. Sit in awe of Him. Fear Him. And then run toward Him and away from your sin.