KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Fear
WHY DO WE say reverential awe...?
It's to indicate that his sense of awe is specifically directed toward God. Imagine yourself driving across one of our central states on a sultry, overcast day. Suddenly you catch sight of a violent tornado spinning across the plains toward you, lifting up houses and barns in the air and leaving wholesale destruction in its path. Immediately you feel a gripping sense of awe that includes not only fear for your own safety, but also amazement at the storm's overwhelming power. Obviously you're experiencing awe in a very real sense. But it is not reverential awe.
Finally the tornado passes beyond, leaving you safe. You begin to think of the hand of God behind the tornado. You reflect on the fact that the roaring twister was a visible manifestation of His mighty power. Now your awe is focused not on the tornado, but on God. It has become a reverential awe -- a mixture of fear, veneration, wonder, and admiration, all directed toward God Himself.
THOUGHTS: Our denial of any objective moral standards, or even our basing of morality upon society's consensus instead of God's Word is tantamount to say, "Who is God that we should obey Him?" Like Pharaoh of old, our society today is neither in awe of God nor afraid of His judgments. (Jerry Bridges)
KneEmail: "And Pharaoh said, 'Who is the LORD, that I obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go.'" (Ex. 5:2); "But as for you and your servants, I know that you will not yet fear the LORD God." (Ex. 9:30).