To show reverence to God is to give Him the honor and respect He deserves.  It comes from having a profound adoring and awe in our hearts for Him, stemming from our realization of His unmatchable power, strength, and majesty.

Knowing that God created us, along with the massive universe that we still cannot completely search and comprehend, and that He did so by merely speaking the word (Psalm 33:6), how can we not be in awe of who He is, and give Him the proper reverence?  This week let us think about some ways that we can show God reverence.

We must be reverent toward God with our speech.  We do this first by praising His great name as often as we can.  We can do this while talking about Him to others, or even when we approach His throne in prayer.  One of the great passages in the Bible involves David’s reverent prayer.  Here it is—

1 Chronicles 29:10–13 (ESV)
¹⁰ Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. ¹³ And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

Is there any doubt that David had a great deal of reverence for God?  Like David, we should all openly praise our God.

Regarding our speech, we must be careful not to speak of or to Him casually or with any kind of disrespect.  Today, people are too careless in the use of God’s name.  We hear people saying things like “Oh, my God” or “Jesus Christ” in very ungodly ways, giving God and His name very little thought while doing it.  We should not forget the warning of God in Exodus 20.

Exodus 20:7 (ESV)
⁷ You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

I know this was a part of the Ten Commandments, but the New Testament makes it clear that God has not changed His attitude toward taking His name in vain.  Listen to what Paul told Timothy.

1 Timothy 6:1 (ESV)
¹ Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

In another place, Paul told Timothy to “avoid irreverent babble…” (2 Timothy 2:16).  Yes, God still cares about showing Him disrespect by the way we speak.

We can also show God disrespect by speaking to Him too casually.  Jesus teaches us to show respect when we pray.  His disciples once asked Him to teach them to pray so He told them, “When you pray, say: Hallowed be your name…”  The word “hallowed” means, “to make holy.”  Jesus is teaching us to pray with reverence.  Saying things like, “The man upstairs” when we pray is irreverent and rude when speaking to God and should be avoided.

How we talk is always important.  How we talk to and about God is critical to our relationship with Him.  As we think about showing God reverence, let’s begin by making sure we do so with our speech.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.