Awe-wakening – 6/4/23

Malcolm Muggeridge was born in 1903 and embraced cynicism as a very young man. As Os Guinness observes, he lost confidence in education during his four years at Cambridge. He described those four years as the most futile and dismal of my life. He lost confidence in politics during his years in Russia. He went to Russia, a wide-eyed socialist, but he was the very first person in the world to broadcast the Holodomor, which is the Ukrainian holocaust, where Stalin starved and slaughtered millions of Ukrainians, and the world didn’t notice. As a matter of fact, one New York Times writer received a Pulitzer Prize for celebrating Stalin’s achievements while Muggeridge knew what was actually happening. So, he lost all confidence in education and religion and politics. He spent a number of years, three years in India, one of the most religious countries.

His despair climaxed in Mozambique. During World War II, he was sent to Mozambique to monitor German shipping, and one night, in his words, “full of stale liquor and despair,” he lost all hope. He wrote these famous words later —

“Alone in the universe, in eternity, with no glimmer of light in the prevailing blackness; no human voice I could hope to hear, or human heart I could hope to reach, no God to whom I could turn, or Savior to take my hand.”

He decided that night to kill himself, but he wanted to make it look like an accident. So, he went to the beach, left his clothes on the shore and just plunged into the dark waters (it was a dark night) swimming out as far as he could until he would drown. But during his swim, he happened to glance back in a moment and saw a set of lights that he had never seen before on the shore. He wrote about those lights later.

“They were the lights of the world; they were the lights of my home, my habitat, where I belonged. I must reach them. There followed an overwhelming joy such as I had never experienced before; an ecstasy.”

He turned. He swam back. He didn’t become a Christian till much later. But he had seen something he had never seen before. He experienced something he had never experienced before — something bright, hopeful, joyful; something that resembled home. What was that? Was it faith? I don’t think so, not yet. Was it wonder, awe? What Guinness calls, was it a signal of transcendence?

Not all moments of awe are spectacular. For example, G.K. Chesterton was an agnostic when he was stopped in his tracks by a dandelion. What filled him with awe was not the dandelion’s beauty, but its reality. Why did it exist, especially where it existed? He knew the emptiness, the skepticism. He had embraced the nihilism of his day. He knew life was empty and broken. But why was there beauty? Why was there beauty in the midst of the brokenness? He knew in that moment, that moment of awe, looking at a dandelion, that he needed to find a philosophy, a theology that would explain both the brokenness and the beauty, for he agreed with the artist Rossetti, who said,

“The worst moment for an atheist is when he is genuinely thankful, but has nobody to thank.”

Atheist Whittaker Chambers knew about this. He had been a spy, a Soviet spy. You can see it in his eyes. Looks a little fishy. He had a moment of wonder, but it wasn’t from some light in the darkness or seeing a dandelion. It was his daughter’s ear.

“I was sitting in our apartment on St. Paul Street in Baltimore. [He had defected to the US.] My daughter was in her highchair. I was watching her eat. She was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened in my life…. My eye came to rest on the delicate convolutions of her ear — those intricate, perfect ears. The thought passed through my mind, ‘No, those ears were not created by any chance coming together of atoms in nature (the Communist view). They could have been created only by immense design.’ The thought was involuntary and unwanted. I crowded it out of my mind. But I never forgot it or the occasion. I had to crowd out of my mind. If I had completed it, I should have had to say: design presupposes God. I did not then know that, at that moment, the finger of God was first laid upon my forehead.”

Sometimes these moments of awe come when we are in the presence of extraordinary courage or bravery, like one father who said,

“The way my daughter dealt with the stillbirth of her son…. I was with her at the hospital when he was delivered, and her strength in dealing with this left me in awe. My little girl grew up overnight and exhibited awesome strength and bravery during this difficult time.”

When have you experienced something like this — a moment of awe? In a thunderstorm? Or watching a group of nursery volunteers sacrificially caring for little ones? It’s truly a thing of awe. Or a flower budding? Or have you been on an athletic team where, in a moment in the game, you begin to experience what Durkheim calls “collective effervescence”? It’s like when the whole becomes greater than its parts, and the team is functioning with a selfless synergy. You can experience the same thing in business when each team member is playing his or her role to such an extent that the whole team accomplishes far more than any individual could have. It’s stunning to be a part of or to watch! All of these experiences are glimpses of awe.

So what is awe? Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California in Berkeley, in his new book this year titled Awe, defines awe as

“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast, that transcends your current understanding of the world.”

So, this is a secular, scientific definition of awe. I would argue that awe generally has two characteristics — mystery plus humility. Or see if this definition makes any sense. Awe is when a “why?” collides with a “wow!” A why — that’s the mystery part; you don’t fully understand it all — collides with a wow — that’s the surprising element that leads to humility.

Kids, that would be a fun thing if you have a pad of paper. Draw the face of an individual whose why collides with her wow, experiencing what does awe look like. Sometimes it’s big and spectacular, and sometimes it’s noticing for the first time a dandelion. There usually is some respect or even fear as a part of awe. That’s why the old English use of awe or awe-full, referring to God, literally meant full of awe. God is awful, full of awe, and there is a healthy kind of fear. Awe is different from beauty as mystery is different from familiarity. That’s awe — mystery plus humility.

We have spent the last five weeks journeying through Isaiah 40, exploring what happens when God’s greatness meets our weariness. Since the chapter begins in verse 1 with comfort — “Comfort, comfort” — and ends with renewal, verse 31, it’s obvious God intends to communicate comfort and renewal to his people. But the whole chapter is not about us. It’s all about God. And so, for some of us, that’s very confusing. If you want to comfort and rejuvenate me today, you need to focus on me and my problems and my questions and my doubts and fears. Perhaps God is saying maybe that’s our problem, not our solution. Perhaps we need more awe. We need to look beyond ourselves. And so, Isaiah 40 is that — three voices, three visions of the greatness and goodness of God that fill us with awe.

So, in a few minutes, let’s survey, overview, review Isaiah 40, apply as we go, and there’s a little bit of an exercise in each one of these. You could summarize the chapter this way. How should we respond to Isaiah 40? Listen. Look. Live. Let’s look at us one at a time. Listen. Look. Live.

Number 1, we listen to God’s Word above every other word. In the first part of Isaiah 40, God commissions three voices to speak comfort to his people. Verses 3, 6, 9 — “A voice cries”; “a voice says”; “lift up your voice.” And these voices cry out from unlikely places — from the wilderness to the high mountain, they herald good news. What is the good news? Here are the three voices.

Number 1, God’s glory is coming, verses 3-5.

“There is no mountain too high, no valley too low that can hinder my glory from coming to you for your good.”

Number 2, God’s Word is continuing, verses 6-8. He said in verse 6,

“All flesh is grass,”

which can seem like that doesn’t sound comforting but look where the comfort comes. Verse 8,

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand [will engage and endure] forever.”

Third voice — God’s power is carrying, 9-11. God comes with might, but he is using his power not to crush, but to carry. Look at verse 11.

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

We listen. Here’s the exercise — Will you listen in awe of God’s Word? Now, that might mean when we gather together as a people. It might mean we start our day in the morning. Before we listen to other voices, we’re listening in awe of what God says in his Word. It might mean as we’re driving down the road this week, spending less time on mind-numbing news, maybe fewer podcasts, more of God’s Word or worship songs that point us to him. Whatever it is, we’re saying, “God, please, I’ve lost an awe of hearing from you.”

Now, we all know what it’s like to experience awe, right? Goosebumps, shudder … I experienced a moment of awe several years ago, I think about a year and a half ago. Some of you may remember I told you when I was driving to church in a storm and suddenly a tree fell on the front of my car. So, the front of my car is gone, and you suddenly realize as your car halts, that if I had driven two more seconds, it would have crushed me. And so, in that moment, there’s a mystery. What just happened?! There’s a humility because you realize how vulnerable our lives are, and a bit of gratefulness — thank you, Lord!

Years ago, several times, I climbed cliffs with Jim Evans. And one time we were up almost four hundred feet straight up a cliff face. And when you get up, there are a few tiny little ledges. And I remember we’d hook in, and you’d stand on this ledge, and you could barely see that you’re looking down on the treetops. If you fall, you won’t be hurt. No pain. But you’re looking out on this breathless view in North Carolina of the blue sky, of the treetops! Or skiing in the Rockies just takes your breath away! So, we know what it’s like to be in awe. What about when the God of the universe speaks to us through his Word? Have we grown a little too familiar with that?

God says in Isaiah 66:2,

“All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, [what things? trees and mountains and cliffs] declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Can you remember the last time you heard his Word, and you knew in that moment — like you could be in a big crowd of people; you could be alone in your car — and you knew God was speaking his Word to your heart? And that will cause you, when you really take that in, that will cause you to tremble far more than being on a mountain or looking at a dandelion.

Karen and I experienced this this week. Some of you know. We’ve updated many of you, but she had another scan on Thursday morning. And a few hours later, we met with the doctor, and we could tell pretty quickly that it was not going to be good news. And there were a couple of uncertain spots in her lungs and then a new tumor in her abdomen. And she’s got a PET scan in a week and a half, and so we don’t know what we’re going to do yet. We’ll wait until we know more. But, of course, when you get news like that, especially after she has felt so good for these last few months … It has been such a gift. You know, you have that moment of shock, tears. But then what’s beautiful is to together and to watch her grab ahold of those promises of God that are stronger than any scan results. Like the one I shared with you two years ago when we began this journey — Proverbs 14:26,

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”

There is an awe of the Lord that produces such strong confidence in the face of whether it’s hard news…. And that same day we were walking through really hard news Thursday with several … Many families in our church are walking through things like this. And it can leave you breathless. It is hard. Or what Isaiah 40 is saying, we will either live our lives trembling at the news that people will give us, whether doctors or friends or online or whatever else, or we will live our lives trembling at the Word, the news God gives us. That’s really what it comes down to. We listen to God’s Word above every word.

Number 2, we look through creation to our creator. So, near the end of the section on listening — those first three voices — we begin to be invited to behold. You’ll see it in verse 9 at the end, “Behold your God”; verse 10, “Behold, the Lord God.” And most of the rest of the chapter is helping us to behold. So, he’s moving from three voices to three visions. Look at it — verses 12-17. Look at the nations compared to God! He made oceans, mountains, hills. His understanding is unlimited. Nations are nothing compared to him, a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales.

Look at the rulers compared to him, 18-24. They make idols that crumble and topple. He “stretches out the heavens” and “brings princes to nothing.” Look at verse 24.

“Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.”

Look at the heavens compared to God. “To whom then will you compare me?” Verse 26,

“Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.”

When you look in wonder at this universe, God is saying — and it is wonderful — stand in awe of its maker.

Now, what does all this have to do with comfort and renewal? I’ve spoken to many of my skeptic friends who raise this question, “Why would God want us to worship him? Is he some kind of egomaniac? If I wanted people to worship me, that would be weird.” True. You’re not God. For God not to desire worship is for Him to want us to be idolaters, to worship less than God. But what’s interesting (and this is a sidebar, but it is relevant to Isaiah 40) is to read the latest research today as awe is in a revival of sorts, even in the secular world.

Let me share just a few of the … and these are just summary statements of the research highlighting the unexpected benefits of awe. Dr. Keltner’s research team concludes,

“everyday awe, then, can be a pathway for avoiding chronic inflammation and the diseases of the twenty-first century such inflammation is associated with, including depression, chronic anxiety, heart disease, autoimmune problems, and despair.”

In other words awe is physiologically and psychologically health giving. It’s also good for the mind. They conclude,

“it should not surprise that people who feel even five minutes a day of everyday awe are more curious about art, music, poetry, new scientific discoveries, philosophy, and questions about life and death. They feel more comfortable with mysteries…. A stereotype of awe is that it leaves us dumbfounded and dazed, ready to subordinate reason to dogma, disinformation, blind faith, a local guru or trendy influencer. The scientific evidence suggests otherwise. In the state of wonder that awe produces, our thought is more rigorous and energized.”

Now, this is just a secular analysis of awe, and we worship God because he is worthy of worship. We stand in awe of him because he is worthy, not just to get something. But what this research and what the Bible is arguing in Isaiah 40 is one of the quickest ways to comfort and renewal, psychologically, physiologically, one of them is to stand in awe of God.

Years ago based on some of C.S. Lewis’s fascinating observations, John Piper observed this —

“Mental health is, in great measure, the gift of self-forgetfulness.”

Now, think about that. As awe increases, self-criticism, self-loathing, excessive introspection, self-absorption in all of its forms, from vanity to narcissism, decrease. Why is that? Well, think about it. It’s really difficult to drive your car from here to California with the hood up. You’ve either got to choose to check your engine or go to your destination. And that’s a little bit of how excessive introspection, self-love, self-absorption works. Some of us try to live life with our hood up, checking out the engine while we’re trying to go somewhere, and you find you can’t do it. You know you can’t stand in awe and be absorbed with yourself? You can’t. Try it.

So, what God is saying is perhaps, for some of us, the message of Isaiah 40 is get your head out of the hood. Look out. Listen up. Now, don’t misunderstand me. There is a time when you’re on a road trip to pull aside to open your hood. There’s a time in life to get good counseling, to get input from other people, to examine motives. There are those times where we set aside for introspection and self-examination in a healthy, appropriate way and then shut the hood and live your life. Stand in awe. Look around you. And it is actually health giving.

So, here’s the exercise. Behold and be healed. So, several months ago, my daughter Cami and I were joking about different titles for this series in Isaiah 40. She threw out that one. It’s a little too singsongy, but I like it — Behold and Be Healed. So, this week, would you take a few minutes each day to practice letting go of self-concern and stand in awe. What might that look like? Let me give a few suggestions from Clyde Kilby. On October 22nd, 1976, he was a professor of English literature at Wheaton, and he gave what Piper calls an unforgettable lecture entitled “Ten Resolutions for Mental Health.” Let me just give you a couple of them.

One,

“At least once every day, I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet and traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.”

Wow! That’s like Star Trek stuff. Can you imagine if more of us did that? For me — get my head out of my to-do list long enough to see who God is and what he’s up to, what he’s doing through his people. Generally, where is our face during downtimes? It’s usually on our phone now. That will suck the awe right out of you. So, put it down. Take a few minutes.

Here’s number 3 of this (I’m just picking a few from Clyde Kilby).

“I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding 24 hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood [or womanhood.]”

Take that in.

One more, and this sounds a lot like Isaiah 40. “I shall open my eyes and ears.” Remember Isaiah 40. Listen. Look. Engage your senses.

“I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. [Be careful with that one.] I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are, but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their ‘divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic’ existence.”.

See, the trouble with the current revival in awe in the secular world today is that it closes in on itself. It starts with creation, and it ends with creation. And it turns creation into a mindless system, where you have a lot to give thanks for and no one to thank. What Isaiah 40 is telling us is look through creation to Creator.

And then finally Listen, Look, Live. Number three, we live with him in highs and lows. As Allan mentioned last week, Isaiah 40 can … I don’t think he used the word “anticlimactic,” but it ends rather surprisingly. And this is the part that’s usually not accentuated on the coffee mugs that have Isaiah 40:31. Let’s look at it again. Isaiah 40:29,

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord”

That is, those who redirect their trust from themselves or others to the Lord, hearts woven together, resting in him. They

“shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles [soaring!]; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Do you see the decrescendo? It felt a little like a decline. You ever have a day like that? You start; you’re soaring, like you’ve got eagles on your coffee mugs. And then about halfway through the day, you’re running. And then by the end of the day, you’re walking. And by the very end of the day, you’re hoping not to faint. If I could just somehow cross the line and get into bed before I pass out. Why is that? Why does he end this way? I really think he’s communicating that when we live in union with him, in a relationship with him, whether we are soaring or running or walking or trying not to pass out, he is with us. He is with us in the highs. He is with us in the lows. And he proved that so powerfully with such awe-inspiring compassion and greatness in the sacrifice of Jesus!

And so this last exercise, I want us to practice together. It’s called the Lord’s Supper. It’s a celebration of our relationship with Yahweh, the covenant God through Jesus. When we are in union with him, we go down with him and we go up with him. Look how Romans 6 describes this.

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his”

In other words, if we have gone down with him by faith

“we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [We shall go up with him.] We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

On Thursday, when we got that hard news, we were listening to a song. Later I was listening to a song called “You’ve Already Won.” It’s so powerful. There’s a statement right in the middle of the song that says,

“I don’t know what you’re doing, but I know what you’ve done.”

I just latched onto that. There are so many times where he calls us into seasons of uncertainty. We can feel comfortless, desperately in need of renewal. I’m not sure what you’re doing. I know what you’ve done. You have proven your love in Jesus, dying, buried, rising. I know by faith your death, my death; your burial, my burial; your resurrection, my resurrection. We’re going to be good. You’ve already won. I know the end. You talk about comfort? You talk about awe? When we take this in, there is no mountain view, there is no thunderstorm, there’s no dandelion, there’s no lights on the shore that can compare with this kind of love!

So, in a few minutes, some people are going to come forward. They’re going to pass out a piece of bread and a cup. And if your faith is in Jesus, I hope you can use this time just to stand in awe of such greatness, such goodness on your behalf. His glory came in Jesus. When we see him, we see the Father. When we live in him, we live in relationship with the Father. If you don’t know him, you can humble your heart right now and cry out to him. Use this time as they sing over us a song most of us aren’t familiar with. Use this time to stand in awe. Some of us have allowed our hearts to grow crusty, cold, and brittle. We can’t remember the last time we stood in awe. Let’s ask him for help.

Father, please soften our hearts. Awaken us. Awaken us to awe. Open our eyes. Unclog our ears. Let us live in the high and in the low with you for your glory in Jesus’s name. Amen.