The Awesomeness of God -- Part 1
The word “awesome” has been around a long time in our culture. Other words have come along and worked to supplant “awesome,” but those words seem to fade away, while “awesome” keeps hanging on.
Consider just some words that have been used for “awesome” over the last thirty years – the bomb, the bomb-diggity, crackalackin, ill, killer, boss, dirty, off the hook, the off the chain, off the heezie, off the hizzle, epic, phat, rad, lit, redonkulous, righteous, sic, sic-nasty, slammin, stellar, fresh, stupid-fresh, sweet, tight, wizard, and all that and a bag of chips.
These words, and many, many others have come and gone, but awesome remains. And we label many things as awesome, don’t we?
“This video game is awesome!”
“That movie was awesome!”
“That roller coaster was awesome!”
“This new app is awesome!”
“This latest tech gadget is awesome!”
“My Algebra II class is awesome!” – Okay, maybe not that one.
“I just got the limited edition to this video game, it has thirty more worlds and fifteen more levels. It’s so awesome!”
“The new [insert super hero movie here] is soooo awesome. So many new characters. I wonder what the next movie will have. What will happen with this character? I wonder if so-and-so will be in this one. If so, that would be even more awesome.”
“Did see you that catch Odell Beckham made? How about throw from Carson Wentz to Matthews? Awesome!”
Movies, books, video games, TV shows, athletes, teams, websites, gadgets, bands, songs, actors, etc. etc. We label them all as awesome and spend hours and hours with them each week…but I have some bad news for you. When you compare these things to the awesomeness of God, they don’t even register at the very bottom of an awesomeness scale.
Sadly, even though this is the case, think how often we trade away the vast awesomeness of God for these lesser things which are not remotely awesome in comparison to Him.
I love the ocean. To walk along the shoreline as the sun is setting, to look out over the majestic expanse of the ocean and watch as the purples and oranges and reds of sunlight stretch out over the horizon…that creation of God is a tiny, tiny expression of His awesomeness.
Have ever been to the Redwood Forest in California? You look at those humongous trunks and stare straight up trying to find the tops…and you are lost in wonder as you try to figure out how a tree can be so massive…that creation of God is a miniscule expression of His awesomeness.
When I was a teenager, my family went to the Grand Canyon. And, you know, you can look at pictures of the Grand Canyon, but they do not do it justice. It almost didn’t seem real. It was so big, so wide, so deep. That creation of God is a drop in the sea of His awesomeness.
Also as a teen, my family went to Niagara Falls. We went on a ship called “The Maid of the Mist.” You had to don rain gear to go on the ship because the spray from the falls hits you from hundreds of yards of away. Even though the captain of the ship had a microphone, you could hardly hear him over the thunderous roar of these falls. And the ship could only get so close because the massive amount of water plummeting over the falls creates a vortex that pulls you in if you get so close….such power and force…again an ant in the redwood forest of God’s awesomeness.
In the end, there is no awesomeness compared to the awesomeness of God.
