He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. -Psalm 33:7, 8
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. -I John 1:5
Something we see all throughout the Word of God is the message of redemption that can be found in the Lord. The message of the gospel is one of redemption. Do we truly understand what that means? To be redeemed means to be bought back. That which was lost was gained with a price. And once redeemed the owner will never let it go. God can redeem us because He has the power to do so. The same God who created the heavens and the earth and who flung the stars into their place cares about you and me – individually and personally. God is all powerful, all knowing, the Creator of the universe, and He also cares for us. Because the Lord is God we are called to seek Him and to revere Him. The Scriptures calls mankind to fear the Lord and to stand in awe of Him.
The closer we get to God the more we will be in awe of His power, grace, and holiness. We have to draw near to Him to experience the wonder of that fullness. Back in the mid 1980’s I took a group of youth from the church where I was serving to a youth rally in downtown Cincinnati. After the event that night Cincinnati Bengals football player Anthony Munoz was signing autographs and talking to people. As we were leaving we saw him at the back of the auditorium . Several of our group got to talk to Mr. Munoz and I even got to shake his hand. He was a mountain of a man; more than a head taller than me, broad shoulders, and when we shook hands my hand seemed to disappear in his.
Up until then I had only seen him on TV during football games. It wasn’t until I met him in person and stood close to him that I realized just what a big man he was. I point this out because countless people only see the Lord from a distance. They have never sought to draw near to Him. If they did they would discover how great, awesome, powerful, and amazing He is. When we come into God’s presence we realize that he is God and we must humble ourselves before Him and seek Him – with all of our hearts. We draw near to God and in awe we begin to wonder how the Lord could love us so much that He came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ and died for our sins. Christ became the sacrifice for the sins of the world that you, me, and all who would believe could have everlasting life. Christ has come into the world and He has brought redemption; He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Christ the Living Word has come to us, and in Him there is light and no darkness at all (I John 1:5). That light can be in us as well, and the light will drive all darkness from our lives. When that happens it is marvelous and wonderful.
