Fear & Awe: How a Right Understanding of ALL of God’s Attributes Fuels our Worship

Stephen Chuckray

If one does a quick scan of the most sung worship songs in churches according to CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), it doesn’t take long to see some common themes – the goodness of God (Build My Life, Goodness of God, I Thank God), gratitude and amazement for our salvation (Gratitude, Glorious Day, Living Hope, Graves into Gardens), and God’s faithfulness (Firm Foundation, Waymaker, Promises, Same God). And we certainly should worship the Lord for all of these things. But at the same time, it’s important to make sure we’re not ignoring other aspects of who our God is. Psalm 111:10 tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” Thus, let’s explore what it looks like to lift up our praise while having a right fear of the Lord.

THESE STORIES PROBABLY AREN'T MAKING IT INTO A CHILDREN'S BOOK

When was the last time a worship song referenced all of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed? Or a flood wiping out almost the entire Earth’s population? A plague wiping out Egyptian first-born sons? Ananias and Sapphira struck dead in the temple after bringing an offering? There’s a song that recently came out (Praise by Elevation Worship) that’s caused controversy by referencing the destruction of Jericho in a seemingly light-hearted manner. I’m certainly not advocating that these types of Scriptural references need to be incorporated into our rotation of worship songs. But I think they all teach a valuable lesson - God is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-holy and that demands we worship him in the way he wants to be worshipped.

GOD SETS THE RULES FOR HIS WORSHIP

In 2 Samuel 6, we see that God had given Israel specific instructions about the movement of the Ark of the Covenant. These instructions served as a means of preserving God’s holiness and reinforcing a fear of drawing near to him without appropriate preparation. Many commentators believe that the ark had stayed in Abinadab’s house for a long time and his sons Uzzah & Ahio likely became used to its presence, leading to an irreverent attitude. Instead of transporting the Ark was on men’s shoulders by Levites as the Lord instructed, the family placed it on oxen. The oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand to grab it, thinking it was his responsibility intervene and protect the presence of God. He was struck dead immediately.

HOLY, YET PERSONAL

On the surface, these accounts could lead one to feel intimidated and cautious as we consider the right way to worship God. Yet, living on this side of the death & resurrection of Christ, we find hope and comfort in the story of the Gospel. That God in his infinite holiness would go to such lengths to be in a personal relationship with us, should only increase our desire to give him the worship he deserves in the way that he wants to be worshipped. He owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10) and is “majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders” (Exodus 15:11) yet is still our Good Shepherd who would leave the 99 to track us down.

God is faithful, good and loving. But he is also holy, and uses his power to defend his holiness. When we worship Him, we need to keep all of his attributes in mind.