Day 5: Revealed in Our Actions
Psalm 96:9
As a kid, I loved lying under the summer night sky, gazing up at the stars in silent awe. I wondered where my middle school problems—friendship squabbles, white lies, awkwardness, and a search for meaning—could possibly find resolution in that distant expanse where I imagined God lived. The gap seemed too great between my front yard and God’s house.
In a way, I had that right. The gap is immeasurable. It’s like that math trick where you keep going half the distance to the finish line but never get there. God is uncontainable, incomprehensible, wholly other. If we’re honest, we can’t imagine facing Him without averting our eyes to revisit our shame or trying to prove ourselves loveable. We imagine that He tolerates rather than loves, that He is disappointed rather than delighted. God’s holiness, we perceive, is demanding.
Here, the psalmist’s words are unexpected: God’s holiness is beautiful.
God’s otherness is magnificent. Words fall short, as Isaiah, with his many-winged seraphim and train-filled temple testifies, crying out “Woe to me!” God’s holiness—fierce yet beautiful—brings us to our knees. We fall down in the same moment we are drawn in by His presence. Reverence meets wonder in His heavenly Throne Room. But no cosmic gap keeps us distant, for Jesus has brought us nearby becoming our holiness—trading splendor for humility, taking on flesh, giving His life, and reconciling us to the Father. He is worthy of all glory and honor and blessing.
Reflection Prayer
Father, You welcome us into Your presence because of Your Son. Thank You that the gap that stood between us because of sin and brokenness is no more. We stand before You, bearing the holiness of Jesus, sharing in His joy even as we gladly bow before You in reverent awe. The heavens declare Your glory, Lord. Thank You for revealing Yourself to us in creation and showing the splendor of Your holiness to even the youngest child. Help us to fully receive Your love. Thank You, Father. Amen.
Week 1: The Holiness of God
A. W. Tozer writes in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, “We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire His wisdom, but His holiness he cannot even imagine. Only the Spirit of the Holy One can impart to the human spirit the knowledge of the holy.”
God is holy. Pastor Chip Ingram says, “He isn’t six or ten or one hundred times more holy than the best person you know. God Himself is an entirely different category in which He is the only member.”
God reveals His holiness to us in many ways, as we will see in the Scriptures this week. As we reflect on God’s holiness, how do we respond? Will we take off our shoes? Will we get on our face? Will we make every effort to keep peace? Will we confess or praise? Will we be God’s holy Church?
— Amy Roedding