Reclaiming our Awe by Remembering how Great our God is

Reclaiming Our Awe: Why 2026 Starts with Remembering How Great Our God Is

Have you ever gotten so comfortable with something amazing that you stopped noticing how incredible it really was? I got a call this week from my 92-year-old buddy Frank that completely wrecked me. He went to the ear doctor for hearing aids, and "he said ‘pastor do you know that God created the ear?’" Frank had never seen an image of the ear before, and when the doctor walked him through all the intricate details - "all the vibrations, all the stuff" - Frank looked at that doctor and said, "My God made that."

This man has a child's heart and "he was in awe of the ear." Church, are you in awe of the ear? "God handcrafted your ear. He figured out how to do because he knows everything."

The Foundation That Changes Everything

"There just a burning anticipation in me. I just can't get rid of this feeling. I don't know what it is, but all I know is that, I need more of God."

As I've been praying about 2026, God keeps bringing me back to Deuteronomy 6:4-9 - the Shema. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one." This wasn't just a nice saying for the Israelites. This statement “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God.” That's the very foundation of the nation of Israel.

Think about their context. They'd been rescued from Egypt and the polytheism, all those different gods the gods of fertility gods of of health, gods of the day and the gods of night. In the middle of all that confusion, God said, "But I I want you to know something. I am the absolute God. There there is no God besides me."

We've Lost Our Awe

Here's what breaks my heart: "It took less than 40 days for them to lose the awe of God." Picture this - they'd just witnessed the plagues of Egypt, walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, and were camping at the base of Mount Sinai where "the mountain exploded" with God's presence. "The awe of God was right there in that moment. But it took less than 40 days for them to lose the awe of God."

"They had got so comfortable in the proximity of the presence of God that they no longer had an awe of God.” They threw a little bit of gold in and out pops a calf and then they begin to worship. The worshipped the calf as they god which brought them out of Egypt.

Sound familiar? "Can I tell you, church, I think one of the things that we have in our world today is we forget like they forgot."

The Infinite vs. The Finite

"But we as finite beings are always trying to grapple with an infinite God. We're always trying to say, can I somehow define God? And can I tell you, I think 2026, if God is speaking anything to me, he's telling me just reside in the fact that you don't understand me fully."

Remember Job's story? Job's problem was "he forgot the awe of God. He begins to explain, 'I'm a righteous man.' He begins to question God." But when God finally showed up, He asked Job: "Were you there when I placed the stars? Were you there when I created the Leviathan, the Behemoth? Were you there when I created the earth and the waters?"

"Job's response is the response that I believe that each and every one of us need in our lives one more time to say, 'Oh God, I thought I knew you, but now I see I haven't even started fathoming you. You are greater and more powerful than I could ever ever imagine.'"

When Life Doesn't Make Sense

"2025 has been a year of hard things that I've asked God, ‘God, why? I don't understand.’ But it's not for me to understand because he is the great God and there is none beside him."

I think about Brother Eric, who needs surgery. "I'm like, 'Why, God? Why don’t you just healed him? Guess what…my why doesn't matter. God has a bigger plans for Eric. And if I don't understand the plan, that's okay."

"Cuz believe it or not, you may not realize this, but I don't have the magic phone in my office. I can't just pick up that phone and call God and tell him, 'Hey, this is Pastor James, Bishop James Schulker.' I got to give you a bigger title, you know, because he can hear me a little bit clearer... He doesn't ask me. He doesn't give me that that connection. What he tells me is to rest. Know that I know best."

Where Are Our Testimonies?

Moses told the Israelites something prophetic in Deuteronomy 6:20: "When your sons ask you in time to come, what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?"

The expectation was that they'd be talking about God so much that "there will be a day that'll come and the generations will come and they'll look at you and say, 'Amber, how are you dealing with the situations going on right now, Amber? Why do you have a smile on your face? Why do you have joy?'"

But here's what's heartbreaking: "I read a recent doctoral paper and it was talking about the Pentecostal Church of God  and saying we don't hear testimonies anymore." In a study of 400-500 churches in Georgia, "they said, 'You know what? There's not a time for testimonies anymore. And when there is a time for testimonies, nobody talks about them.'"

"Where has the testimony gone in the church?"

The Small Miracles Still Count

"We look and what we forgot is that the small miracles are still miracles. Do you know, by the way, it's not small, but do you know that your salvation is the biggest miracle you'll ever experience? It's the greatest miracle that has ever happened. But the fact that I'm breathing right now is a miracle of God."

Let me tell you about Rachel. She started helping at a nursing home, "just wanted to help out. I wanted to be a servant." When she had to step up and lead, she was afraid: "I don't know enough. I'm not I'm not I'm not educated enough, pastor." But she said, "I'm going to do it anyways. God, give me a hundred more of her, right? Say, I don't think I can do it, but I'm going to do it anyways."

"That's a miracle of God that happened this last year that we don't talk about. Because we often define miracles as a healing. No, a miracle is watching somebody get out of their comfort zone and say, 'I can't do it, but I know God can.'"

Getting Back to Talking About God

"We have to change ourselves in the moment where we are talking about God more and about the world less." In our culture where "only 58% of Christians who are what they call church-going Christians in America, Protestants, only 58% believe this is the infallible word of God," we need to get back to talking about "the commandments of God, the righteousness of God, the justice of God."

"Oh, that we would talk about God 2026. God is telling me, you got to be in more awe of me and you need to talk about me more."

Life Application: Making It Intentional

Moses didn't just tell Israel to remember God - he gave them a practical plan. "You shall bind them as signs on your hands and you should be frontless between your eyes. You shall write them on your doorpost of your house and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:8-9).

The challenge for us is not to simple say, ‘I’m going to be in awe of God more and talk about Him more.’ What we must do is be intentional about it.  Pastor Jenn, Jaydrean and I all went to lunch together and had a discussion. We talked about what intentional thing we are doing, individually, to be more in awe of God. Then we discussed, as a family, how do we start being intentional to talk about God.

"I want to be in awe of God. That's my resolution. I want to find myself waking up in the morning asking God, what am I going to learn about you today?"

Maybe you need to "put a sign in my home. Maybe I need to put something on my mirror in my bathroom. Maybe I needed to put it in my car, on my desk, God. Something to remind me that you are God alone."

"Because what we know is the world is messy and the world is busy and what's waiting out there and what the Bible tells us is that the the the sin is crouching and what it's waiting to do is steal this message from you."

The question isn't whether God is great - He is. The question is: Will you be intentional about remembering to be in awe of God? Will you let 2026 be the year you get your awe back?

"Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one." Church, it's time to remember.