Awe

"Awful" is one of those interesting words that has changed meaning over the years. It was originally "aweful" meaning "that which inspires awe." Interestingly, "awe" is from an Old Norse word, "agi, which means "fear" or "terror." So "awe" meant "reverence ... with dread." The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "a feeling of great respect sometimes mixed with fear or surprise."

Perhaps you can see where this is going. In Scripture, the word used to describe "the fear of the Lord" in both Hebrew and Greek is translated literally as "fear." Now, fear can refer to terror, or it can refer to "reverential awe." You can see how that is true when you understand "awe" includes "fear." In Ephesians 5, Paul says, "However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband" (Eph 5:33). That word translated "respects" is actually "phobos" ... "fear" ... often used in the sense of "terror." Clearly this is meant as "reverential awe." And in this sense, "awful" would be a wonderfully good thing ... a sense of reverential awe, especially for God. "Awful" would be right and good. So ... how did it come to mean "terrible"? (Notice the similar connection of "terrible" and "terrific.") Apparently "fear" fell into disfavor. The "word people" ascribe it to "evolution." I suspect something more ... sinister. If "awe" is exactly how we're supposed to view God -- "great respect with fear" -- then it would stand to reason that Satan would like to erase that word. Like "love" which went from "a deep concern for the welfare of another" to "I feel affection for you," Satan would really like to eliminate the words we need to properly relate to God ... and each other.

Our instructions include the fear of the Lord (Psa 111:10; Prov 1:7; 9:10; Matt 10:28; 1 Peter 2:17; Rev 14:7, etc.). The English word is "awe," which includes respect and fear. We ought to find God "aweful" ... in its original sense. It's this loss of fear of God that has caused no end of problems with our too familiar line of thinking of the "Big Guy Upstairs" and the odd confusion that "He's too nice to do anything I don't like." We need to adjust our hearts and minds to respecting and fearing God properly.