The Awesome God

The other day, I was reading in Ecclesiastes for my time with God when I came across this:

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know what they do wrong.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth so let your words be few. As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words...Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God" (Ecc. 5:1-3; 7).


I am still feeling challenged by this several days later. How do I approach God when I go to spend time with Him? Do I treat Him like an emergency service, only ever telling Him what I need? Do I do all the talking in my time with Him, or do I leave room for Him to speak to me by listening? Do I spend some of my time with Him just standing in awe of who He is and worshiping Him?

More than anything this passage reminds me not to be self-centered or ritualistic in my time with God. He is worthy of my worship. He also doesn't want my time with Him to be a meaningless ritual; rather He desires a dynamic relationship with me everyday (Jn. 17:3). Time in His presence should always be "two-way".

"Shipwreck"

Lately I've been singing this song a lot to God in my time with Him. What a beautiful song of dependency, brokenness, and humility.

I built a fortress
With a hundred thousand faces
I'll keep it safe
With a hundred thousand more
But these masks are wearing thin
As You draw me in

I spent my time
On the empty and the fleeting
I spent my life
On much less than I'd dreamed
But I'm reaching out to you
To make me new


'Cause I am just a beggar here at Your door
I am just a shipwreck here on Your shore
I come empty handed
Ready to see
Your life in me changing who I've been
To who I need to be


You tell me my story
As You sift between the pages
I feel redemption
In the space between each turn

Could You take me in Your arms
And tell it just once more
Could You take me in Your arms
And tell it just once more

Song written by Starfield

The Majestic God

Anxiety chewed away at my mind as I lay in bed, only half asleep. I awoke to the sound of a muffled crash. What was that??? I looked at my clock. The bright green numbers shone faithfully telling me it was 9:27AM. Must have been thunder, I thought. I listened closely in the dark silence of my basement for the pitter patter of raindrops against the roof. Yup, it was raining. There must be a thunderstorm outside, I thought.

I jumped out of bed, dressed, and ran up the stairs. Walking out on to my drive way in bare feet, I could feel the rain slowly and steadily falling on me. As I watched the sky, the dark gray clouds flashed again and again; the low rumble of thunder echoed slowly behind.

All of a sudden a glorious fork of lighting split across the sky right above me. Shortly after a loud gunshot of thunder ripped the heavens open in reply. I listened and watched in awe of the majesty of our God. Who is like Him?

Shortly after the storm faded away, but the loud peal of thunder still resonates in my memory, declaring God's majesty. The lighting still flashes in my mind declaring His glory. It was a beautiful start to my Saturday morning.

The Creator God

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Rom 1:20).

I love the beauty in the world God made. I love how His world declares His creativity and His majesty! Both His World and His Word so "clearly" reveal who He is. With no excuse how will we respond to His revelation?

Sunrise was photographed by Allesha Ens. Thanks Allesha for capturing such an amazing glimpse of God for us.

Someone On Fire For God

This is my good friend Chris Meyer. I met him at Peace River Bible Institute this last school year. When I first discovered that he was young in the faith, I was surprised because he was so sold out to God and His plan. Just recently he started a blog. The first post is amazing. It's loaded with a heart and passion for God. If you want to see someone burning alive for the Most High, check out his blog:

Faithful When We Are Faithless

Faith: Our Response To The Faithful God

As my last semester at school came to a close I breathed a sigh of relief. I had finally made it, all pressure was off and it was time to relax. In a couple days I would be headed home for Regina.

[Two days later]

Oh boys! I sat there in my prof’s office dumbfounded. I was sure that this girl had understood my intentions, just to hang out as friends. After all, we had been friends all year, and to my knowledge I hadn't done anything that would have led her to believe that I was interested in pursuing a relationship with her.

The previous day she and I went for ice cream. I thought it was a fun time. Here I sat across from my prof as he told me about my ice cream run with my friend and the words that I had said to her. Eeeww. That was a gross feeling. From what I figured out, she had gone to the Dean of Women and complained that I had confused her with my intentions and with some of the things I shared with her on our ice cream run.

Aaack! I panicked! My prof encouraged me to pray about it and see if I needed to talk to her. Unfortunately, I skipped the praying part and tried to get in contact with her right away. So she and I fought through the grossest and most awkward conversation I’ve ever had in my life. I had an awful time finding the words to say, and it left the two of us on a really poor note for the end of the school year.

As I read the story of king Hezekiah this last weekend in my devotions I very quickly realized what I had done wrong.

Unlike most of the kings before him, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Let’s take a quick look at the big picture before I show you what jumped out at me.

The Big Picture

Hezekiah is reigning as king of Judah. All of a sudden, the Assyrian army shows up on Jerusalem’s doorstep. The commander of the army starts threatening Hezekiah and the people. He says:

“Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ...How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand” (2 Kings 18:32; 35)?

Oh boys…I know what I would do if the largest army in the known world showed up in my home city asking me to surrender. The small city of Jerusalem couldn’t have stood a chance against the Assyrians who had already hauled off all of Israel (the northern kingdom) into exile and conquered several of the surrounding nations. I would have jumped in my chariot and ran for my life to Egypt!

The Small Picture

What does Hezekiah do? He runs to the Lord:

“Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God” (19:14-16).

“It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone fashioned by men’s hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (19:17-19).

Wow! What a prayer! And what an answer to that prayer:

“That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men from the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew” (35-36).

Hezekiah realized that he had no control over the situation. Instead of trying to take control himself he turned to the one who is control of everything: “O Lord…you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth” (19:15). God responded to his prayer by delivering him from the Assyrian army.

Why did Hezekiah run to the Lord? Why didn’t he run away or even worse try to fight the Assyrians? Hezekiah ran to the Lord because he knew God was faithful. He knew that God would deliver him from the situation. He knew that God was in control of everything and would be faithful to provide for him.

Going back to my friend from school, it’s so obvious what I did wrong. After I talked with my prof I should have done what he said and prayed about the situation. I realized that I wasn’t control and what did I do? I tried to take control myself. I tried to fix the problem with her right away. Did it work? No.

Instead I should have done what Hezekiah did. I should have gone to the Lord, the one who is in control of all things, and asked for wisdom and guidance. I am convinced that He wanted me to leave it alone. But God used that to teach me a lesson.

What about you? When you reflect on some of the recent happenings of your life, what do you see? Do you see someone who impulsively tries to control other people? Do you see someone who avoids people or situations because of a fear of not being in control or not knowing what the outcome will be? Do you see someone who manipulates others?

This next week I am going to keep an eye out for those circumstances where I don’t feel comfortable or secure. I hope to do what Hezekiah did, and turn immediately to the Lord in prayer. In the relationships in my life where I fear the unknown, I will declare my dependence on God, the faithful God, and seek His help in prayer.

How will you respond to the faithful God?

He Exalts The Humble

Last week I finished up the book of 1 Kings in my devotional reading. By the end of the book I was getting a little overwhelmed with how the kings after David and Solomon seamed to progressively worsen. Near the end of the book, I read the story of a terribly wicked king named Ahab, and to my surprise, I caught another glimpse of who God is. Let me share what I discovered.

The Big Picture

The Old Testament story continues to unfold in my reading. The Israelites, after finally making it to the promise land, have rejected God as their king and asked Him for to appoint a human king over them. Though God was displeased with this desire, he granted their request to teach them a lesson and discipline them. He gave them Saul. After Saul David was given the throne of Israel, and after David, Solomon. Now when Solomon’s rule as king came to and end, the northern kingdom of Israel separated from the southern kingdom of Israel. The rest of the book of Kings tells the stories of the different kings of Judah and the different kings of Israel.

Because of Solomon’s disobedience and the idolatry he committed with his wives’ gods, God tore the kingdom of Israel from Solomon’s hands, leaving Solomon’s descendants only one tribe to reign over – Judah. God gave the rest of Israel to the kingship of Jeroboam. Almost immediately after Jeroboam becomes king of Israel, he sets up two golden calves for the people to worship (1 Ki. 12 25-33)!

When I read this I was appalled! God gives this guy the kingdom of Israel to rule and the first thing he does is set up idols! Not only this, but he sets them up to prevent the Israelites from going to Jerusalem to worship the Lord in the temple of Solomon (v. 27-30). What a wicked man. I can just imagine how furious God must have been, especially when their ancestors did the very same thing at Sinai.

Jeroboam didn’t stop there though. He built shrines on high places and appointed priests and he instituted festivals of worshipping the golden calves (v. 31-33). Listen to what God had to say about him: “You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods…you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back (14:9). This was Jeroboam king of Israel. It’s amazing when you look at all the kings after him on the throne of Israel because each one of them is either said to follow the ways of David or of Jeroboam, doing right in the eyes of the Lord or doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.

The Small Picture

To your surprise, Jeroboam is not the one I want to focus on. Later on in the book of Kings a man named Ahab inherits the throne of Israel. Jeroboam was a wicked king, but Ahab was ten times as wicked! Listen to what the summary of his reign says in Kings:

“Ahab…did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam…but he also married Jezebel…and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him (1 Ki. 16:30-33).”

Few lived up to king Ahab’s legacy of wickedness. As I was reading his story I was so taken aback by how it ended:

Elijah, the prophet, comes to Ahab and tells him that God is furious with him and his sin (21:20-22). The writer of Kings records another side note:

“There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites…” (21:25-26).”

And now watch this!:

“When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly” (21:27).

Now let’s pause for minute. If I was God and Ahab did this I would have said to him, “Too late buddy” and struck him down for his wickedness. But as we read on, I cam to see that God was a little different than I first thought. Right after God speaks to Elijah about Ahab:

“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son” (20:28).

Incredible! Unbelievable! When I read this, I sat there in my bed paralyzed with awe. Right at the end of his life Ahab humbled himself before the Lord and God extended grace and mercy to him. Remember this was the wickedest king who had ever ruled up to that point! Yet God gave him favor that he didn’t deserve.

It’s amazing to consider what this reveals about God. It shows me that he has a tremendously high value on humility. It shows me that he does indeed exalt those who are humble. If wicked Ahab’s humility can illicit such an incredible response of grace from God, how much more should we, having been justified in Christ, pursue a humble heart before the Lord in our daily walk? Our God’s beauty is beyond words. His majesty is overwhelming.

I am enjoying getting to know this God more and more everyday. May we continue to strive to know him better everyday.