I Want the Awe Back

There is something deeply sacred about Psalm 24 because it does not separate our desire for the presence of God from the condition of the heart that desires Him. It begins by establishing the absolute lordship of God, moves into a searching question about who can ascend into His holy place, and ends with the gates being opened for the King of Glory to come in. It is more than a beautiful passage about worship. It is an invitation back into reverence, consecration, surrender, and the wonder of realizing again just who our God is.

“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,” Psalm 24:1 ESV

Everything Belongs to God

Before David asks who can ascend the hill of the Lord, he establishes ownership. Everything belongs to God, including us. Our families, marriages, kids, ministries, gifts, bodies, resources, time, ambitions, plans, and futures all belong to Him, and when we truly understand this, surrender becomes less about giving God little pieces of our lives and more about recognizing that everything was His from the beginning.

Sometimes I wonder if, in the fullness of life, we have simply become too accustomed to things that should still leave us in awe. Our days become filled with responsibilities, people who need us, places we need to be, problems that need solving, ministry that needs tending, kids who need raising, bills that need paying, messages that need answering, and a thousand legitimate demands on our attention. None of those things are necessarily wrong, but somewhere in the middle of doing life, even doing life for God, we can forget to stop and behold God.

I do not want to lose that. No matter how much life requires of us, I pray that we would remain people who know how to stop, become still, look at the heavens, and remember that the One we are speaking to made all of this. The God we hurriedly prayed to this morning is the Maker of heaven and earth. He spoke light into darkness, formed humanity from the dust, set the stars in their places, knows them by name, holds creation together by His power, and yet invites us to draw near and know Him.

I Want the Awe Back

I want the wonder that makes us slow down again. I want to open the Word without treating it as common, enter worship without simply going through familiar motions, and enter the secret place remembering that I am meeting with the holy God who created heaven and earth and somehow, through Christ, has invited me to call Him Father.

It is from this place of wonder that David asks,

“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?” Psalm‬ ‭24‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Who Shall Ascend—and Who Shall Stand?

There is something significant about David asking both who will ascend and who will stand, because there is a difference between experiencing a moment in God’s presence and developing a life that continually honors His presence. We can become hungry for revival, anointing, revelation, breakthrough, spiritual gifts, and encounters with God while forgetting that underneath all of these things is a deeper invitation. God is not merely calling us to experience something from Him. He is calling us to belong completely to Him.

David answers,

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” Psalm 24:4 ESV

Clean hands speak to the life people can see, while a pure heart speaks to the places only God fully knows, and true holiness touches both. It is possible to serve, worship, pray, preach, lead, and appear spiritually mature while allowing pride, bitterness, jealousy, unforgiveness, selfish ambition, hidden compromise, fear of man, or the desire for approval to quietly occupy places within us that belong completely to Jesus.

Reverence Is Deeply Personal

This is where reverence becomes deeply personal, because reverence is more than an atmosphere we create during worship. It is the awareness that we are continually living before Him. The God we worship publicly is the same God who sees our private thoughts, conversations, motives, habits, reactions, and decisions, and the more conscious we become of His presence, the more holiness becomes a response of love rather than merely a religious obligation.

Through Jesus we have been invited near, and our righteousness is not something we manufacture through religious performance, yet grace should never make the holiness of God common to us. We have been welcomed boldly to the throne of grace, but it is still a throne, and the One seated upon it is still King.

Then David writes,

“This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face…” Psalm 24:6

Seeking His Face

There is a difference between seeking what comes from God’s hand and seeking His face. We can desire His provision, protection, healing, breakthrough, gifts, answers, and even revival without realizing that somewhere along the way our hunger for what He can do has become greater than our hunger simply to know Him.

The secret place reveals that difference, because when there is no microphone, audience, title, recognition, or ministry opportunity, the question becomes beautifully simple. Do I still want Him? When nothing is being asked of me and nothing is being produced, can I simply sit at His feet and marvel again at who He is?

I want to be part of a generation that remembers how to behold Him.

Then Psalm 24 shifts.

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” Psalm‬ ‭24‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Open the Gates

The progression is beautiful. The Psalm starts with God’s ownership, moves into consecration and seeking His face, and then comes the opening of the gates. Spiritually, it paints a picture of surrender as every place within us that has been closed, protected, occupied, or ruled by something else is opened to the King.

There may be rooms within our hearts where we have welcomed Jesus as Savior but resisted Him as Lord. GET THIS! We may trust Him with eternity but struggle to trust Him with our future, our family, our finances, our wounds, our ambitions, or our plans. Yet the invitation of Psalm 24 is to open the gates completely and allow the King of Glory to reign in every place!!!!!

Perhaps our prayer should not simply be, “Lord, take me higher,” but instead, “Lord, make me FULLY Yours. Search what needs to be searched, heal what needs to be healed, remove what needs to be removed, and awaken within me again the wonder of who You are.”

Lives That Remain Surrendered

We do not want only encounters at an altar. We want lives that remain surrendered. We do not want only to recognize His presence during worship. We want to recognize His presence while raising our kids, loving our spouse, serving people, working, resting, making decisions, and walking through ordinary days. We want to learn how to live every part of our lives with the quiet awareness that the Maker of heaven and earth is near.

Maybe this is part of what the Church desperately needs again. Not another moment that temporarily moves us, but the restoration of holy wonder that changes the way we live.

I want the awe back.

I want to look at creation and marvel at its Creator. I want His Word to feel weighty again, worship to become wonder again, prayer to become communion rather than another item on my list, and the secret place to become precious again. I want my heart to remain tender enough that I never become so familiar with the things of God that I stop trembling at the greatness of God.

“Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle… the LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.” Psalm 24:8, 10

We Want Him to Reign

May we become a people who recover the wonder of His holiness without losing the tenderness of His Fatherhood, who understand the confidence we have through Christ without becoming casual with His presence, and who seek His face not merely because we need something from Him, but because we have discovered again that He Himself is the treasure.

May our prayer become, “Lord, slow our hearts down enough to behold You again. In the middle of our families, ministries, responsibilities, schedules, and all the noise competing for our attention, teach us to stop and remember who You are. Search us, purify us, restore reverence to us, and open every gate within us to Your rule.”

Because when the King of Glory comes in, we do not simply want Him to visit. We want Him to reign.

Pastor Sarah Bell