10 APR 2026
When God Becomes Familiar
The quiet danger of staying close to God, but no longer being moved by Him.
By Shikha, S.C.M.A. Communications Director
There is a dangerous thing that can happen to a believer. Not sin in the obvious sense. Not rebellion. Not even walking away from God.
But something quieter. Something far more subtle…
You get used to Him.
Think about it, the first time you truly encounter God, it did something to you right? You don’t have language for it. You don’t have theology for it. You just know… This is not ordinary. Maybe it was during a prayer, or worship, or a moment when everything inside you broke and somehow, you were still held.
There was trembling, there was reverence, there was AWE. But slowly, over time, something shifted. You still prayed, you still showed up, you still believed but the wonder… faded.
Not because God changed. But because familiarity replaced reverence.
In Exodus 3, Moses sees a bush that is burning, but not consumed. And what does he do? He turns aside. That’s the detail we often miss. He didn’t ignore it. He didn’t normalize it.
He didn’t say, “Oh, that’s interesting.” and kept walking.
He stopped. And in that moment, God spoke:
“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
The ground wasn’t holy because of the location. It was holy because of Who was there. And Moses recognized it.
We don’t lose AWE overnight. We lose it slowly. When prayer becomes routine instead of encounter. When worship becomes music instead of surrender. When Scripture becomes reading instead of revelation.
When we stop “turning aside.”
And the scariest part? You can look completely consistent on the outside…and be completely unmoved on the inside. There’s a moment in Malachi where God speaks to His people:
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me?” (Malachi 1:6)
It’s not that the people stopped offering sacrifices. They were still doing everything. But their AWE was gone. They gave God what was leftover. What was convenient. What cost them nothing. And God wasn’t confronting their actions. He was confronting their hearts.
Why AWE Matters:
AWE is not just emotion. It is alignment. It reminds you that God is not your equal.
Not your concept. Not someone you’ve “figured out.” He is holy. He is other. He is beyond.
And yet, He invites you close. That tension? That’s where AWE lives.
What Can You Do Now?
The return to AWE doesn’t require something dramatic. It requires something intentional. To pause again. To notice again. To approach God not casually… but consciously.
To remember that every time you pray, you are stepping into something sacred. Not routine. Not ordinary. Holy.
Maybe the greatest danger isn’t that we stop believing in God. Maybe it’s that we stop being moved by Him. That we can stand in front of burning bushes and keep walking.
But AWE invites us back. Back to wonder. Back to reverence. Back to a posture that says: “God… You are still beyond me. And I don’t ever want to lose that.”