That I May Declare All Your Works

Psalm 73:25-28
“Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord GOD,
That I may declare all Your works.”

Have you ever taken time to think about how amazing God’s grace really is? Have you ever really sat and thought about the immense privilege we have to approach Him in prayer and adoration? When Isaiah saw the Lord God on His throne, He was undone. Isaiah’s response was, “Woe is me for I undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

We tend to overuse the word, “awesome,” in our culture. I’ve begun checking my own use and my kids’ use of the word “awesome” lately. Not to be cranky, but because I started really thinking about what is awesome. A video game is not “awesome.” New shoes are not “awesome.” A good time at the Fun Park is not “awesome.” Seeing the Blue Angels do their stuff, while extremely impressive, is not awesome. They may be really neat, fun, cool, exciting, whatever. But not awesome.

Yeah, yeah, I know it’s just slang. Lighten up, Beck, and all that.

But, no.

Awesome is really only appropriately used to describe our God. When I really think about Him in His holiness, that is the word - awesome. With it, I have the sense of holy fear, reverence and, yes, awe. The word awesome connotes a sense of such reverent fear that the only proper response is like Isaiah, to be undone. In the presence of such holiness, our sense of our own pitiful sinfulness is even more pronounced. Even my best attempt at righteousness is filthy rags in light of His glory. That’s why the gift of grace bestowed on us through Jesus’ cross is truly awesome. When I really think that He has granted me saving faith and allowed me this gift of grace. Me! Who am I that He would lavish such grace on me? The grace that is His free gift, but yet is so very costly. His blood shed for me. That is awesome. To think that such an immensely wonderful sacrifice was made for such a worm as I, and that cleansing by His blood has made me clean in His perfect righteousness to stand before His presence. Such thoughts are wonderful, almost too much to comprehend.

Hallelujah! What a Savior.

The longer I walk with Jesus, the more aware I am of how great, how awesome He really is. I want to live, not merely thinking about the assurance that I will go to Heaven when I die, as extremely wondrous as that thought is! But I want to live vibrantly and wholly committed to Him now. In the book of John we see that Jesus prayed, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) Think about it. When we have placed our trust in the atoning sacrifice of Christ – His blood shed for sinners on the Cross – we are granted eternal life now. We are not saved so we can sit back and mark time and just hang on until we get to Heaven. While we live this life, we are freed by this truth to live lives wholly dedicated to the glory of God, declaring His works - shining His light - to a dark and desperate world, because we know Him. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live by the Spirit, not by the sensuality of the flesh. We are no longer slaves to our passions, lusts, failing hearts. We are made alive in Christ, to walk in newness of life, free to love His law and serve Him passionately. Those who belong to Christ are changed and our desire turns from rebellion against the truth to a whole-hearted love for truth. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7) I want so much to take this truth to heart and sing His praises loudly, joyfully, boldly. As the Psalmist says, “I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works.” We are freed to be a part of the great and eternal Hallelujah Chorus now! We don’t have to wait for Heaven to begin worshiping the Lamb, Christ Jesus the Lord, who is seated on the throne! As I think on this truth, I want to spend more time drawing near to God, praying and praising, and I want that to spill over more and more into my everyday life. I want my lips to sing His praise in everything I do and everywhere I go. I want my love for Him to be the consuming, defining passion of my life, that I may declare all His works.