This weekend, my college ministry is hosting Campus Encounter; a 3-day retreat for State College campus ministries to join together to build our faith, dig deeper in our daily walk, and challenge us to put our plans into action in our campus ministries. This year’s topic is “Run to the Darkness”, however, I am still on that retreat-high and am taking such encouragement from the praise, worship, and motivation that I have found in being amongst so many young Christians that deal with the same daily struggles that I do. So I have to share a few songs that are stuck in my head.


The first is found in Psalm 95, but I have to include the entire psalm to share the whole thought.

Psalm 95

 1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
       let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
       and extol him with music and song.
 3 For the LORD is the great God,
       the great King above all gods.
 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
       and the mountain peaks belong to him.
 5 The sea is his, for he made it,
       and his hands formed the dry land.
 6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
       let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;
 7 for he is our God
       and we are the people of his pasture,
       the flock under his care.
       Today, if you hear his voice,
 8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, <sup class="footnote" value="[a]”>[a]
       as you did that day at Massah <sup class="footnote" value="[b]”>[b] in the desert,
 9 where your fathers tested and tried me,
       though they had seen what I did.
 10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
       I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
       and they have not known my ways.”
 11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
       “They shall never enter my rest.”

Awesome God 

by Keith Lancaster & The Acappella Company

Bass:
God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom power and love
Our God is an awesome God

Soprano, Alto, and Tenor (come in one round at a time, with each part continuing):
Our God is awesome
He reigns from heaven
With power and wisdom
Our God is an awesome God

Chorus (with four parts in background):
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom power and love
Our God is an awesome God

Now when He rolled up His sleeves He wasn’t putting on the ritz
Our God is an awesome God
There’s thunder in his foot steps and lightning in His fists
Our God is an awesome God
And the Lord wasn’t jokin’ when He kicked ‘em out of Eden
It wasn’t for no reason that He shed His blood
His return is very soon and so ya’ll better be believin’
Our God is an awesome God

Stepout (with four parts in background):
Yes we know that He’s awesome
And He reigns with power and wisdom

Repeat Stepout

Now when the sky was starless in the void of the night
Our God is an awesome God
He spoke unto the darkness and created the light
Our God is an awesome God
The judgment and wrath He poured out on Sodom
His mercy and grace He gave us at the cross
I hope that we have not to quickly forgotten that
Our God is an awesome God

Scriptural Reference:
“Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.” Deuteronomy 7:21

Published by Ryan Goodman

Ryan Goodman works in grassroots advocacy as a communications consultant with beef cattle farmers and ranchers across the United States. He is a proud alumnus of Oklahoma State University, with studies focusing on cattle reproduction and nutrition. Ryan's experience in the beef industry range from family farms and ranches in several states to large feedlots and non-profit policy organizations. Ryan is an avid trail and ultrarunner, proudly showing how beef can be an important part of a healthy diet and active lifestyle. Find Ryan on social media as @BeefRunner.