“Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling.” Psalm 2:11
“If He is so great, place your mouth in the dust before Him, for He is the most powerful of all kings… Heaven obeys Him cheerfully, hell trembles at His frown, and earth is constrained to yield Him worship, willingly or unwillingly. His power can create or destroy. My soul, be sure that when you draw near to the Omnipotent, who is a consuming fire, put your shoes from off your feet and worship Him with lowliest humility.” -Spurgeon
God is everything, and we are nothing. Until we understand that, we will not pray the way we ought to pray.
“For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:3
Read Isaiah 6:1-7, and it will put you in the right frame of mind. When Isaiah (or anyone else for that matter) was in the presence of God, he fell prostrate on the ground before God. Moses took off his sandals and smashed his face in the dirt before God. The wisest man of all time, King Solomon, said in his wisdom books that the bottom line was to “Fear God and keep His commandments.” Fear is reverence that involves trembling.
For some reason we see God as a big sweetie pie (which is also true), almost like a teddy bear. But He strikes people dead, and they fall down. Remember Ananias and Saphira? God’s fire also lashed out and killed lots of Israelites when they were complaining in the wilderness. And Jesus rides a white horse in Revelation, with a scythe in His hand – everyone in that field will experience terror when He strikes them dead. God is dangerous.
God is not to be trifled with. Either He rules or He doesn’t. Eventually everyone will bow the knee, whether they like it or not, because He is indeed God. For every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:10)
When we pray, we should have lowly reverence and complete submission. And yes, we can walk boldly to the throne of God to receive help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16), but this does not negate the absolute, staggering power of the Creator of the universe, and our need to hold the Lord God in reverence.
Tags: Christian Living, prayer, reverence, Spurgeon
