Totally Awesome

"Awesome." Yes, we know that word. "Totally awesome, dude!" Like "Wow! That's really cool." Yeah, well, like so many other words (and their associated concepts) in the English language, this is another one we've managed to cheapen. In our day it refers simply to enthusiastic approval. It has not always been so. Originally the word meant more. Something that was awesome was certainly impressive, but it had another attribute as well. It was frightening. "Awe" is a mixture of reverence, respect, wonder, and dread. The dictionaries agree that this mixture of feelings is overwhelming.

So in the New American Standard Bible we read, "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe" (Deut 10:17). "Awesome God." Yes, we get that. But that same verse in the King James reads differently. "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward." Do you see, where the NASB says "awesome" the KJV says something different? "Terrible" is their word. Because "terror" is included in "awe".

Is God terrifying? We don't think so. We think He's our "bud", our "pal", the "Big Guy Upstairs". Lots of things, but not terrifying. I suspect that the primary reason we don't see Him as terrifying -- the complete sense of "awesome" -- is that we haven't seen Him. The responses in Scripture to those who have are consistent. When Moses realized that the bush he went to see was God, he "hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God" (Exo 3:6). When Israel, miraculously freed from slavery in Egypt, got the chance to hear God tell them what He expected of them in person, the Bible says, "They trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die'" (Exo 20:18-19). When Isaiah, God's prophet, got a heavenly vision of God in His Holiness, he responded, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isa 6:5). When Jesus told His disciples where to fish and they caught more than they could handle, Peter replied, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8). In Mark 4 Jesus and the disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and ran into a storm that scared the seasoned fishermen. When Jesus stilled the storm, they weren't relieved. The Word says, "They became very much afraid" (Mark 4:41). Over and over again when humans -- even friends of God -- get a clear glimpse, the response is not "Totally awesome, dude!" It is fear.

God is, indeed, awesome. His majesty inspires reverence, respect, and wonder. But if you see Him as He is, it also inspires fear. Part of awe is dread. And the lack of this kind of fear is a problem (Psa 36:1; Rom 3:18). Fear God (Eccl 8:12; 12:13; 1 Peter 2:17). He is indeed totally awesome.