Our God is an Awesome God!

As God's people, we sometimes focus so much on ourselves that we forget how big our God is. We forget about awe. Awe is just a bit of fear mixed with an admiration and reverence for something greater than us. Christmas is a season of wonder and awe!

When I read the story of the virgin birth and about the life of Jesus, I have a reverence and awe for God. I have a sense of wonder. When I look at the vastness of the ocean or the stars in the sky at night, I am awed by the bigness of my God. I have a reverential fear of something so great.

At times, we need to be reminded of the awe and bigness of our God. The greater our awe of God, the better perspective we have of how great and powerful our God is in the small things and the big things in our lives. He is worthy of awe.

When we put the smallness of the tiny baby, Jesus, up against God‘s bigness and greatness, it shows the vastness of who He is. It show us that the tiny babe born in a cold, dirty manger has become the King of all on his throne. He took the path of going from the smallest, weakest version of a human to the greatest, biggest, most powerful Lord of all!

Christmas is a season of awe and wonder for me because an angel came to Mary when she was betrothed. The angel announced she was blessed and she wondered why. Then he said to her “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” Luke 1:30-31 NKJV She was probably speechless but it all came to happen!

When the time came and Jesus was born, “And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” After being told these things, she magnified the Lord and rejoiced and acknowledged God had done great things for her and the whole world to see. She was in awe of God. She was amazed, humbled and grateful for all He had done, was doing and would be doing. She then watched Jesus grow from a tiny babe to King.

All these out-of-the-ordinary, unexpected things happened. But Mary KEPT ALL THESE THINGS (all these extraordinary things) and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:18-19

The people “marveled” and Mary “pondered” all these things in her hearts. They wondered in their hearts and minds. They were in AWE of all that had happened. They were in awe of the transformation of ordinary to extraordinary, from lowly baby to King of all.

Do we marvel and ponder all that God has done and is doing in our lives today? Do we have an awe for God and His greatness? Do we see all the things that are not ordinary in our lives but are of God? I need to remind myself of the extraordinary, marvelous, powerful things of God that my heart and mind can only ponder.

Here’s a few reminders of His bigness found in His Word that bring me awe and wonder:

“The angel came to a virgin named Mary….You will be with child and give birth to a babe and you will name him Jesus…The Holy Spirit will overshadow you…He will be the Savior of the world.” (Luke 1-2) A virgin birth by the Holy Spirit to save the world would be humbling and something to seriously ponder and be in awe of.

“He measured the waters in the hollow of his hand.” The earth has 326 million trillion gallons of water!!! He can hold that much in His hands cupped together.

“He measured heaven with the span of His hand”. Scientists estimate that there are 200 billion trillion galaxies in the universe. He can fit that much between His thumb and pinkie finger!

“He has held the dust of the earth in a basket.” The amount of dust, or dirt on the earth is 149 million km2. He holds it all in a basket.

“He weighs the mountains and hills. He knows how much each one weighs.” It’s believed there are 1,187,049 mountains in the world. And He knows the weight of each one!

“He who brings out the stars, one by one, and calls them each by name.” Astronomers guess there are 200 billion trillion stars in the universe.

(Isaiah 40:12, 26) And He knows the name of each one!

“He gave the sea its boundary, so the waters would not overstep His command.” (Prov. 8:29) Even the ocean waves, give him awe and respect!

“Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” (Matt. 10:30) The average number of follicles on a head is around 4 million. And He has the hairs on your head counted!

If a Savior was born to a virgin and would save His people, if all the waters of the earth and if the stars of the sky can fit in the hollow of his hand, and if He knows the numbers and measurements of everything, how big is He?? Those facts are ASTOUNDING to me! They fill me with awe, wonder and gratitude.

Then there’s the miracles He’s done in my own life. I often ponder those things and I am humbled and awe and wonder rises back up in me. These are all the things I ponder in my heart to remind me of the awe and bigness of my God and cause me to be so very grateful.

Before the angel had announced Jesus’s birth, the angel spoke with the gentleness of love and explained things to Mary. Before God thundered forth His majesty in Isaiah 40, He spoke to Israel with the gentleness of a mother’s quiet voice of love: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Isaiah 40:1) God is not eager for us, His people, to struggle or feel unloved or ordinary. He does not want us to put Him in a small, human-limiting box. He wants us to have the awe of His greatness.

In this season, listen again to God’s tender but powerful and wise voice and be in awe and wonder of Him! Ponder His greatness in your heart. The virgin birth of Christ is the gift of wonder, marveling and pondering that causes us to be in awe of God.

And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior….For He who is mighty has done GREAT things for me, and holy is His name. And his mercy is on those who fear (and find awe) Him.”

P.B. (Post blog) Did I use the words awe, great and powerful too much? The English language is inadequate to exhaustively describe an eternal, timeless God and His attributes. Ponder that!

❤️ 🎄 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 🎄 ❤