Desensitized to God

Do you ever find yourself desensitized to God? Does God ever become so commonplace, become so familiar that we lose the edge, that sense of awe? We can read of God’s exploits so familiarly that we are impervious to the wonder that once issued from reading and hearing of the masterstrokes of Yahweh’s paintbrush.

Psychologists call it “habituation,” that numbness to a stimulus that grows from familiarity. Biblical realities become cold facts rather than jaw-dropping phenomenons. We have heard so frequently of the closing of the lions’ mouths that allowed Danial to survive, the Hebrew children in the fire, the parting of the Red Sea and Jordan River so the Hebrews could cross on dry ground, the speaking into existence all that exists from nothingness. We risk losing our sense of awe, and when we do that, what we imagine as God isn’t God at all but something far less.

Habituation and desensitization lead us to a position of complacency toward our faith. We become passive rather than active, comfortable and satisfied, coasting toward the finish line rather than working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Speaking only for myself, I find that I experience a diminished awe toward God when I have grown slack in my Bible time. While the world teaches us that “familiarity breeds contempt,” such is not the case with God and the Word. Familiarity with and even immersion in the Word fuels that sense of wonder, awe, and reverence.

Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
– Luke 10:29, ESV

When we are saturated with the Word, it is not only God’s acts that we find wondrous. God’s Law and commandments fill us with a sense of fascination and a realization, not that God is a taskmaster, but that God is holy, and we are so lacking in holiness. And sometimes, pondering God’s majesty introduces in me just a little fear.

Enter into the rock
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
– Isaiah 2:10, ESV

There comes a point where getting glimpses of the holiness and “godness” of God, his might, majesty, and infinite essence drives us to our knees in humble submission. And that posture of humility is something with which God is willing to work.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
– Isaiah 57:15, ESV

Job was reminded of God’s majesty throughout the book of Job, often from his friends and occasionally from God himself.

Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know how God lays his command upon them
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
hard as a cast metal mirror?
– Job 37:14–18, ESV

We know that the text above is Elihu speaking to Job rather than God, but what Elihu says is valid. It is worth pondering. And consider this snippet:

Out of the north comes golden splendor;
God is clothed with awesome majesty.
– Job 37:22, ESV

The Psalms gush with acknowledgments of God’s majesty.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
– Psalm 19:1, ESV

Forty-six years ago, I left home for college. I was there on a vocal scholarship, so participation in the concert choir was mandatory. To this day, I remember one of the songs we performed on tour. It was a direct quotation of Psalm 8 set to music. I can still hear it, even as I type this.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
– Psalm 89:1–9, ESV

How can we but stand still and silent, in awe if not outright shock at the magnificence and infinite power of our God. And then consider that this same formidable and awe-inspiring God loves us to such a degree that it boggles the mind to ponder it. I don’t know that it is possible to fully grasp the love of God toward humanity.

Stepping back from the creation and the miraculous feats God has done, ponder your own existence. Hold out your hand and marvel at it for about sixty seconds straight. Contemplate what it does, how it is designed, and all the engineering that went into it. Then consider the eyes with which you are viewing that hand, how marvelously they are constructed with the rods, cones, and retina. Consider how two eyes cooperate to show us one clear image rather than two.

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
– Psalm 139:13–14, ESV

With reference to last week’s blog posting, we read and ponder these mighty acts of God not only for ourselves, but we teach them diligently to our children and our children’s children.

We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
– Psalm 78:4, ESV

Don’t allow God ever to become commonplace to you. His holiness, glory, and magnificence transcend our ability to comprehend them. And soon, this glorious God and King will shepherd his flock in the majesty of his name. Come quickly, Lord.

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
– Micah 5:4, ESV

Blessings upon you, my friends.

Victoriously in Christ!

– damon

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