Considering the Grounds of God’s Awesomeness

When we say that God is “awesome,” we are reaching for a word that captures something we can perceive only in part. Scripture often speaks of God with terms such as greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty. A classic expression is found in 1 Chronicles 29:11:

"Thine, oh Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, oh Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.’’

This kind of language helps us organize why we instinctively call God “awesome.”

Awesome in His Transcendent Being

First, God is awesome in His very being. He is not merely superior to creation; He is in a distinct category from it. He is self-existent, needs nothing, and is not improved by anything outside Himself.

All the attributes we might admire—wisdom, power, righteousness, faithfulness, goodness—belong to Him in a way that surpasses any creaturely example. When we say God is “awesome” at this level, we are recognizing that His nature simply outstrips all comparison.

Awesome in His Gracious Creation

Second, God is awesome in the way He creates. Because He has no lack, He did not create out of need, loneliness, boredom, or deficiency. Creation is therefore a free and gracious act.

Moreover, what He has made is rich, ordered, and beautiful. The created order is a feast for the senses and a workshop for the mind. Almost everywhere we look, we see abundance, structure, and usefulness. There is more to discover in what God has made than any person could exhaust in many lifetimes.

The fact that “all that is in heaven and earth is thine” (1 Chronicles 29:11) not only highlights His ownership but the generosity and artistry of His work. That generosity of creation is itself awesome.

Awesome in His Willingness to Risk

Third, God is awesome in the “risk” He takes in creating humanity in His image. By making human beings with genuine moral agency and meaningful freedom, He allowed for the possibility of defiance as well as devotion.

Humans can love God or hate Him, honor Him or spurn Him. We are capable of real choice and genuine responsibility. To grant that level of freedom, in a world so rich and powerful as the one He made, and then entrust it to us, is an astounding display of confidence and largeness of purpose.

In that sense, God is not “protecting Himself” from being wronged; He is willing to allow history, sin, rebellion, and suffering to unfold rather than create a world of mere automatons. That largeness of heart and purpose is part of what makes Him awesome.

Awesome in His Saving Purpose

Fourth, God is awesome in His saving purpose. From the moment things went wrong in Genesis 3, He has been at work to provide a way of rescue.

Across different eras of biblical history, He has moved steadily toward making salvation available “to anyone, anywhere, anytime” on terms of grace through faith. The present offer of salvation, apart from works of law, highlights the generosity of His plan: sinners may be justified freely on the basis of Christ’s work.

That He would design, announce, and accomplish such a plan, at such cost, for people who had misused the very freedom He gave them, displays a moral and relational greatness that deserves to be called awesome.

Guarding Against Trivializing “Awesome”

One caution is needed. In some religious language God is reduced to a mere “buddy,” a “grandfather in the sky,” or a romanticized figure (“Jesus is my boyfriend”). That sentimental language cheapens the term “awesome.” Awe includes affection and nearness, but it also includes reverence, weight, and seriousness.

When we use the word in a richer, more serious sense, God’s awesomeness stands out in at least these ways: His transcendent being, His gracious creation, His remarkable granting of human freedom, and His persistent saving purpose.

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