In Daniel 9, the prophet Daniel is praying to God with sackcloth and ashes, pouring out his heart and making confession to God for the sins of his people.
At the beginning of his prayer (9:4) he says, “O Lord, the great and dreadful God.”
Wow. What a way to open a prayer.
We’ve been told our whole Christian life that we have a personal relationship with God. It’s, in fact, not a religion; it’s a relationship.
There is truth in this to an extent, but not to the extent that we forget who we are talking to.
The New American Standard, NIV, and ESV soften it to “awesome” God. That’s pretty cheap.
The root word means fear, affright, afraid, terror. In this form, it means that which makes you afraid. I suppose back in the day “awesome” meant that, but it doesn’t anymore.
I’d prefer the recent translations to use a word that conveys the fear and terror, rather than how we cheaply use “awesome” in our day to basically mean, “Cool, or impressive.”
There is terror here. Daniel is calling upon God’s authority to enforce the covenant. He admits that they have sinned terribly, blown apart the covenant, and have no rightful basis to approach Him.
He’s afraid.
Daniel, a righteous guy who has nothing negative said about him in the Bible.
Contrast that with us, who have no testimony near Daniel’s, flippantly addressing the terrible God as some guy we know.
And yes, I know we have boldness to enter through grace and I know we are sons of God and can cry out “Abba.” I got it.
But flippancy may reveal we aren’t really sons; maybe we’re presuming too much.
Yes, Christ has changed the covenant, and yes as members of the new covenant we are not under God’s wrath. But does this imply a lack of respect for who God is?
Does your sin bother you? Do the sins of the church bother you? How about the sins of our culture we’re a part of and watch and take pleasure in?
Shouldn’t we have a little bit of humility and perhaps fear of God since that is the case?
We can overdo grace and love and end up blaspheming God. Presumption is a sin we should be mindful of. Perhaps a little sackcloth and ashes might be appropriate for us in our flippant day.
Maybe a little awareness of sin and God’s role as Judge should temper some of our flippancy.
Something to seriously consider.
anti-itch meditation 