"A Misused Word"

 

“A Misused Word”

 

One of my retirement pastimes is working crossword puzzles. I’ve found that some clues and answers are questionable in my mind (see an example of this in the earlier posting “Crossword Puzzles”). One word that fits this pattern is “awe”. In recent puzzles the descriptions for which it was the sought after answer have included “wonder”, “sweet”, “truly inspired” and “bowl over”. I’ve also heard a sportscaster say, “The Dodgers put on an awesome power display last night.” and a music enthusiast state, “That was an awesome concert!” And the day I wrote the first draft of this article I heard radio preacher Chuck Swindoll observe that he’d just heard someone declare, “Toyotas are awesome!” My contention is that each of these hints and statements misuse this culturally popular term. Here’s why.

Dictionary meanings include “reverential fear or wonder”, “an emotion of mingled reverence, dread and wonder” and “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder”. But the best way to understand the term’s significance is to see its use in Scripture. The primary Hebrew word so translated appears 332 times in the Old Testament and the Greek word 47 times in the New Testament. Both are rendered in many different ways but have the basic meaning of fear or reverence. They are translated “awe” or “awesome” 50 times in the NIV, all but one (Daniel 2:31) describing God and/or His works. Some examples include: “Who is like you, O Lord…awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11); “…The house of Jacob…will stand in awe of the God of Israel.” (Isaiah 29:22-23); “Let (the nations) praise your great and awesome name….” (Psalm 99:3); “They were filled with awe and praised God.” (Luke 7:16. This is the crowd’s response to Jesus’ bringing a young man back to life.) (Emphasis added in each case.) The godly scholars who worked for years on the NIV translation almost exclusively reserved this term for God—maybe we should too. And the dictionaries bear this up by using “reverence” as part of their descriptions.

In his prayer before our congregation this past September 11 Pastor Brian Stowe asked God to “Give us a holy awe for You”. May this be our daily petition as well.

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan