Soul Care - Reverence & Awe
by Mary Elsbury
When was the last time you witnessed a sunrise or sunset and were overwhelmed? How about being at the rim of the Grand Canyon or standing in a grove of redwood trees? Awe happens when we experience something out of the ordinary.
A May 2015 study described it as “An overwhelming sense of wonder and reverence in which you feel a part of something that is larger than you, and that transcends your understanding of the world … Some people refer to it as a form of rapture or reverie or an altered state that unearths joy, wellbeing and inner calm.”
Do you live with a sense of reverence and awe? I have found that Scripture clearly paints pictures that demonstrates the power of God. From the moment of Creation to the book of Revelation, we are given glimpses of jaw-dropping majesty and are promised that God the Father knows every hair on your head and every grain of sand on a beach. If that doesn’t make you feel small, I don’t know what will!
To be reverent means living with the constant awareness that we are in the presence of a holy God. He is with us in all that we do. He sees the heaviness of our hearts and knows our every question. God loves us with an everlasting love, and He is always concerned about our welfare. All that we need, He provides through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Psalm 33:8 says, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”
In a 2018 report, researchers collated awe research into one paper, including lists of positive effects that unfold when we experience awe. They found we are less materialistic, more charitable, and more caring towards others following an encounter with awe. That sounds like what our everyday Christian life should replicate!
John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, writes that "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world." Developing a sense of reverence for the Lord is a practice that creates awareness of God in our lives. Scripture tells us that reverence for God is doing everything in word and deed out of love.
As an aspect of soul care, we need to cultivate awe and reverence for God. Recognize that God’s wisdom is infinitely greater than any human wisdom. Trust Him more than self. Read His Word. Memorize it. Trust God to use all things - the good and the bad - for your good and His ultimate glory. Pray to have a desire and thirst for His Word.
Thomas Keating in The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living writes, "The Gift of Reverence keeps us true to ourselves and to God. It tells the truth in love and will not back down for motives of self-defense or security. Reverence is not only the fear of offending God prompted by love but is loyalty to one's own personal integrity: to do what one believes is right no matter what the stakes are. As reverence grows stronger, our trust in God expands. Humility is a profound sense of our weakness and nothingness, but at the same time an even greater trust in God's infinite mercy and compassion. The Gift of Reverence puts together these apparent opposites."
May you experience various expressions of awe and wonder this Christmas - seeing a child’s face light up when they get the first glimpse of packages under a Christmas tree, looking out over a field covered in new snow, or encountering the birth of the Christ Child.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Luke 2:8-14 NKJV
This is the season for awe and wonder.
