Is God Our Buddy? Giving God the Reverence Due His Name

We are exhorted in Hebrews 12:28-29, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” In writing, “Let us,” the author of Hebrews includes himself in the exhortation.

We are told to worship God with reverence and awe. God is certainly our loving Father, but let us not forget the fact that He is also a consuming fire.

What is saddening to witness in our modern Christian culture is the decline of reverence and awe in our worship of God. If the President of our country attends our churches today, I'm afraid he will receive more reverence than God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth.

I am sure you will agree that we have become too casual and irreverential in our attitude towards God and worship of Him. In the past, people were too afraid to approach God, but today people have become too casual in their approach to God.

Some of the statements that are made in regard to God seem to stir up more casual tendency towards God. For example, some claim "God is my pal and buddy". They speak about talking to God like a friend. This sounds sensational, but is it reverential?

When the Scripture says that the Lord spoke to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, it is to explain the intimate conversation between them, not the attitude (Exo. 33:11). The very next chapter reveals, “And Moses quickly BOWED HIS HEAD TOWARD THE EARTH and worshiped” (Exo. 34:8). How reverential Moses was towards God!

When the Lord Jesus said, "I have called you friends, not servants," it is in the context of sharing His secrets with His disciples. Observe His words carefully, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn. 15:15).

After the Lord Jesus made this statement, not a single apostle or Biblical writer addressed Him as ‘Friend’. All confessed about themselves as servants of God and Christ Jesus (Gal. 1:10; Col. 4:12; 1 Tim. 4:6; Tit. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1:1). Even the Lord’s own brother, James, and His beloved disciple have acknowledged themselves as His servants (Jas. 1:1; Rev. 1:1).

I believe we must seriously devote ourselves to study the nature and attributes of God. The subject of “Theology Proper,” which speaks about the grand being and characteristics of God, is greatly ignored by believers today.

More than motivational sermons and blessings-oriented preaching, we need to know who God is and how majestic He is in His existence. This is especially needed in our generation as many have cultivated sentimental notions about God rather than reverential understanding of His nature and attributes.

Although it is true that God is our Father and that we are privileged to have intimate relationship with Him, which is due to Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross, we must also know that the Scripture exhorts us to revere His Name and worship Him with awe:

"Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!" (Ps. 96:9)

Before concluding my article, let me point out that when the author of Hebrews wrote to believers to approach boldly the Throne of Grace, it is to encourage them not to feel despised to come to God due to their weaknesses and failures. So he said, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).

Later, the author of Hebrews exhorts, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29).

God is our loving Father, but let us also keep in mind—He is the Most High God (Ps. 57:2). He is worthy of our utmost reverence. So let us worship Him with reverence and awe.

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