It’s a word that, in my opinion is over used, and should be reserved for only the most extraordinary. In fact, if God is awesome . . . and He is . . . then awesome can’t possibly describe anything else . . . for nothing is equal to Him. But I was struck this morning to observe that God Himself uses the word “awesome.” Don’t know for sure, but I think it might be the only time He does so. God is awesome . . . and the wonders that God intended to do amidst His people would also be awesome.

And He said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”   (Exodus 34:10 ESV)

Moses had prevailed in pleading God’s favor upon him and a people who had gone sideways, worshiping an image of gold as their deliverer. God has relented and will continue to go before with Moses and the people. And, says the LORD God, in the midst of the people He would do marvelous works through Moses such as had never been seen. What God would do through Moses, among His people, would be awesome.

Such is the favor and grace of God. Restitution having been made for their transgression . . . the people having repented and humbled themselves before God . . . God does not hold back as one might do if he were holding on to a grudge. Instead, He is all in . . . He will do great works that all would see the work of the LORD . . . and it would be awesome.

But, warns the LORD, the people could mess up awesome.

“Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.”    (Exodus 34:11-12 ESV)

Take care, says the LORD, be on guard . . . beware . . . take heed . . . watch out! Lest, when I do awesome and you enter the land of promise, you become ensnared by the ways of the land around you. Tear down their altars, He says, break their pillars and cut down their altars of fake worship. Remove all that might draw you into their world . . . all that might draw your hearts away from the true God and to gods which are no gods at all. Don’t mess with awesome.

Not to take the application too far, but one might say that God’s people today have also witnessed awesome in their midst. That we have known His abundant grace . . . that we have been favored with His abiding presence . . . that we have witnessed His exceeding great power. And, like the children of Israel, we too find ourselves in a foreign land. One with many fake gods . . . a world at enmity with the One True God . . . a system more and more attuned to worshiping the creation rather than the Creator . . . a mindset that says if there is a God, He is here for man, with no thought that, in fact, men and women might exist for their God.

And so the warning is for me. Beware, lest you become ensnared. Be on guard as you seek to be in the world but not of it. Pursue the Kingdom that the world might not encroach. As much as lies within you . . . and by the grace of God . . . don’t mess up awesome.

For His glory . . .