The gravest question

A.W. Tozer writes that "what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us...worship is pure or base as the worshipper 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."

When I say the word "God," what do you think of?  When you picture Him, what comes into your mind?  Is it a kind fatherly or mentoring figure, similar to someone you have in your life here on earth?  Is He like Zeus, the ancient grecian mythological god of the sky, who was just as flawed as the subjects he ruled over?  Maybe your god is more of the genie-in-a-bottle variety, one whom you can summon whenever you need something, and then put him away and forget about him until his services are needed again?

Or perhaps, when I say "God," no image at all springs to your mind.  Perhaps all these years, you have praying praying to air, to a being whom you don't really have any concrete idea of what he is like.  Your prayer time has consisted of far more praying at God than praying with Him, having a conversation with Him.

The Bible calls God magnificent, glorious, incredible, the Lover of our souls and the Redeemer of our spirits.  If God is so wonderful, then why is it so easy for us to fall into a rut, to take Him for granted even while we are trying to pray and spend time with Him?  Why is it so easy to become a luke-warm, half-hearted Christian?

The core problem, I think, is that we have forgotten who God is.  He is not a trinket that we can place on our mantle or hang around our necks, and bring out when the time calls for it.  He is a jealous God, and He demands everything from His followers.  Not only that, but He deserves everything.

The next time you go into His presence, read Revelation 4.  Take a long, hard look at God before you speak another word to Him.  He is radiant, shining like the sun, more brilliant than gemstones, more breathtaking than rainbows.  His glory is such that the only thoughts of any being around Him is to worship Him.  "He is worthy," they say, "to receive all glory and honor and power."  That is the God that we worship.  It is His presence that we have been invited into, His heart that He wants to share with us, His lips that want to speak into our lives.  What a humbling, awe inspiring thought.  All I can say to that is, holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Revelation 4

The Throne in Heaven

 ¹ After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits^[a] of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

   In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

   “‘Holy, holy, holy

   is the Lord God Almighty,’

   who was, and is, and is to come.”

 ⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

 ¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
   to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
   and by your will they were created
   and have their being.”