The LORD reigns let the earth be glad;
Let distant shores rejoice!

When I hear the word “rejoicing” I associate it with things like my team winning, or a long weekend, or some problem (like a pandemic) coming to its end.

This psalm writer was on a different page. He or she rejoiced that “ clouds and thick darkness surround ” God, that “ fire goes before him ,” and even that “ His lightning lights up the world .”

This writer (let’s call her “she”) hasn’t just heard the Bible stories or simply read them as part of her synagogue’s “Read the Bible in a Year” program. She’s there! She’s part of the action! She looks back on the God at Mount Sinai event and she feels the ground shake and she sees the fire break out and she braces at each thunderclap and each bolt of lightning (see Exodus 19:16-18). And she is in awe. She’s activated her imagination.

As we pray this day, make space for awe. Read Exodus 19 and 20, or Exodus 14, or 1 Samuel 17, or Isaiah 6, or Daniel 3, or better yet, Luke 24.

Let’s not just read with our eyes but know in our minds and feel in our hearts that the Living God we know—Jesus—is Awesome.

In awe and in prayer with you this day,

Andrew