The chapter begins by Chan asking us to “stop praying” and instead of talking AT God for a while; taking a LONG, HARD LOOK at HIM. In a culture where we are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry he explains that spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive.
CATCH-UP on what Chapter 1 is all about HERE:
GOD: Are we so familiar with GOD that he becomes COMMON to us??
Is there any sense of AWE in you anymore?
How does it affect your everyday life?
Chan quotes A.W. Tozer:
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us… Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”
Chan goes on to explain: “If the “gravest question” before us really is what God Himself is like, how do we learn to know Him? We have seen how He is the Creator of both the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars. But what is He like? What are His characteristics? What are His defining attributes? How are we to fear Him? To speak to Him? Don’t check out here. We need to be reminded of this stuff. If is both basic and CRUCIAL… He already has a name, an identity. We don’t get to decide who God is. God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’ (Exodus 3:14). We don’t get to change that.”
Sit in Awe of these statements:
God is HOLY
God is ETERNAL
God is ALL-KNOWING
God is ALL-POWERFUL
God is FAIR
God is JUST
Ponder this question: Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain himself to you?
I’m going to turn to my journal on that one!
Chan concludes the chapter this way, “Perhaps you need to take a deep breath after thinking about the God who made galaxies and caterpillars, the One who sits enthroned and eternally praised by beings so fascinating that were they photographed, it would make primetime news for weeks(He describes these beings in the chapter as he unpacks a glimpse of the Throne Room of GOD). If you are not staggered, go to Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 and read the accounts aloud and slowly, doing your best to imagine what the authors describe.”
Maybe I shouldn't ask WHERE you have seen God's grace in your life today...BUT INSTEAD how many times has He FLOORED you by continually showering you with His GRACE day in and day out???
We are so small, and He is SO BIG - and yet he LOVES and CARES for ME! What a beautiful God we serve!