One of the classes that I'm taking in this inspiring setting is Christain Worship. I just signed up for it because it was upper division bible credit, and I might as well take something. But Janine Morgan, the professor, is a pushy person; I think she's gonna make me stretch or something tragic.
All that to preface a question. How do you balance awe and reverance of God with seeking an intimate relationship with him? I keep thinking of Esther. She couldn't even approach her husband without fearing for her life. All she had going for her was beauty and sex appeal. Are we supposed to live in fear and trembling before the Omnipotent One or with delight at the thought of the Bridegroom coming for us? How does this effect our worship? Can there be a balance?
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4 comments:
Good question(s)! I've been thinking about that for awhile, too. The person that comes to mind for me is Job. Who knows better about fear and trembling than Job?! Goodness. I've always thought of Job 42 as one of the best examples of humility (That is, humility as described by a prominent British writer) in my known reference. I obviously do not know how to find this tension between reverence and 'friendship,' but I think Job might be a good place to start. God shows him in reality his position to omnipotence right after showing him a few things about what he thought he wanted (Sara Groves song, by the way. Feel free to ask me to play this for you at some point). Humility and faithfulness... that's some combination, I think. When you get this figured out, you should let me know the answer, please and thank you.
I've got to agree with Laura that you should let me know when you figure this out.
I guess my answer would be something along the lines of this:
To be honest, I haven't spent a whole lot of time on this particular question. I spend most of my time considering the question, "Why do bad things happen?" (I'm leaving out the "to good people" on purpose). And of course, I do spend some time yelling at God. Neither of which answers your question. That's just where I am.
So on to your question:
I think that being respectful and close at the same time is easier if you think of God as the Father. I mean, I feel pretty comfortable with my dad, but on the other hand there is a certain amount of respect for him as well. And that doesn't mean that I don't feel like I can go to him for stuff. It just means that he's different from my friends. Obviously, this is a highly imperfect metaphor, but the point is, I think that those two things aren't at all mutually exclusive. And I guess I also don't entirely understand what I'm trying to say.
Tension!
Well, since that voice is in the wilderness... we're working on it. : )
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