The world doesn't depend on you

Introduction (5m)

Video: The Awe Factor of God

Video: The Awe Factor of God | 3:00

When were you last in awe of something?

Scientists tell us the emotion of awe is important in a healthy life

Grand Canyon, Taj Mahal, Snowdon, Ben Nevis, night sky, mind blown at concert, play or ballet

Important to get goosebumps, dropped jaws > happiness, health, generosity, humility and critical thinking.

Can improve mood and well-being

Can sharpen our brains

A more accurate understanding of world

May dampen materialism

Helps to see stuff as less important

Makes you feel smaller/more humble

Can expand perception of time, help with stress

May make us more generous

Encourages us to focus less on ourselves and see there is plenty to go round.

Can help us feel more connected

ACS rooftop watching eclipse of the sun.

Being awestruck by God is even more important

Expresses our love for God

Pay attention to him. Brings us closer to him. Enables inpouring of strength, peace, security, joy.

Enhances our relationship with him

Helps us feel his strong presence. Helps us feel found not lost. Comforted not desperate. In his light, not darkness. Peace. Healing. Intensifies relationship.

Are you awestruck by God? When was the last time you felt in awe of him?

Helps us come to see the world depends on him. It doesn’t depend on us.

Explanation (5m)

Psalmist expresses awe of God - his power, his workmanship and his character

Psalm 139:13–18 The Message

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

Testifies to the power that brings light from darkness, accomplishes marvellous work of creation, and shapes each one of us inside and out

Sovereign power. But sovereign love to - love is the focus of God’s power. God has artistic, caring hands - shaped, woven.

Words used

The Psalmist is in awe of the complexity of human life

In the presence of birth we don’t calculate—we marvel. Eugene Petersen

No accident. G planned every intricate detail. Every little thing has purpose. We are handcrafted - human life is breathtaking.

The Psalmist is in awe that God chose to create him

G knew him before he was born and planned out his days on earth for just when the world needed him. You and me - no accident we are here now. It’s all been planned, from the very beginning. Created us at our own unique time and place for a specific purpose.

The Psalmist is in awe of God’s planning

Sees all planned out from conception to birth and beyond. Everything spread out before God before took breath. Imagine how much planning that takes! Parents had to meet, grandparents, etc. Ancestry - know how much planning that takes.

The Psalmist is in awe that God loves him

Like many of us, may have been things Psalmist didn’t love about himself - big/crooked nose, bald patch, sticky out ears, a belly, etc. but senses God sees all of that and loves him. Know me inside and out, every bone in body and you choose to love me.

The Psalmist is in awe that God hears him

Psalm = prayer to God. Addressed to him. Psalmist writes/says it knowing God will hear his prayer, knowing that whenever people say/read it, God will hear them.

Application (5m)

Now we see why it is so important to feel awe in our lives - it helps us feel appropriately small in the presence of our all-powerful, sovereign God - vv.17-18

The world doesn’t depend on us - God designs and moves all of history according to his purposes. He creates/brings into being. Meditate on his sovereignty it prevents human pride and makes us feel humble. Helps us rely on his faithfulness. Choose to walk with God because we understand how little we understand.

It helps us to rest knowing the world doesn’t depend on us.

God created between evening and morning - a reminder that perhaps the most Christian thing we can do at times is simply sleep and rest!

Sequence God follows as he creates the universe? Genesis 1 - “evening passed and morning came.” Most of us morning > evening. Creation sequence = good reminder as we go to sleep, God continues his work. The world does not depend on us! God continues his creative work, without our help! Restores our bodies. Replenishes our energy.

We can trust God to continue his work around us and in us

Rather than overfilling calendars/worrying if have enough time.

Next Steps

Video: Father, Creator

1.

I see the stars hanging in the sky

And I stand in wonder, asking why

You should even notice me

Yet You know every hair on my head

B.

All creation serves to sing Your praise

And proclaim You are God

C.

Father, Creator

Thank You for saving me

Lord of the universe

I'm kneeling before You now

To confess You are Lord over me

2.

I see the mountains standing strong and tall

And I stand amazed that You made them all

Just by Your word You created the earth

Yet You choose to speak to me

Emma Pears