Awesome God!

The 5/26 verse of the day is Luke 5:26, "Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!”  (NLT)

Luke recounts stories of Jesus' miracles, and healings, and teachings in chapter 5.  It is obvious that Jesus is no ordinary man, as He displays His grace and power to touch and teach others.  In the account above, Jesus healed a paralyzed man by commanding that he stand up, pick up his mat, and walk.  The man jumped to his feet, picked up his mat, and went home praising God. As people witnessed this, they were amazed and also praised God.   In this translation, it says everyone was "gripped with great wonder and awe."  I don't imagine this was a low-key event.  I think every one's eyes were opened to the greatness of God and it changed them, and their perspective, of who He was. 

Many proverbs in the bible talk about the fear of the Lord leading to such things as knowledge, wisdom, and even life.  Some bible translations say that the people who saw Jesus heal this man were full of fear.  Fear is accurately described as reverential awe. That's a good, healthy fear that recognizes God for who He is and what He does, and responds accordingly.  I think the people in this passage had that kind of fear and I am inclined to believe it led to their knowledge of who Jesus was and their wisdom of what He had done.  All of a sudden, they had a whole new perspective on life.

I think we use the word "awe" far too loosely. We describe almost everything, from A-Z, as "awesome", and, thereby, misuse and misunderstand true "awe".  Many of us have been touched by Jesus; we have seen the amazing things He has done.  It should fill us with true awe, and wonder, and fear.  The kind of good, reverential fear that makes us want to jump up from whatever is keeping us down, pick up our proverbial mats, and walk.  

God reached down and touched me, and healed my marriage.  He has healed me to walk free of breast cancer for the last 1.5 years.  He continues to give me knowledge, wisdom and life.  I am in awe of Him and I view Him with adoration and reverent fear.  I have seen the amazing things He does, so what am I supposed to do?  I just have to praise Him!