9/24/2014 3:00:00 PM — Today is Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important days of the year for men and women of the Jewish faith. It historically hasn't been very important to Christians, though it should be. It ushers in the holiest season of the year on God's calendar.

In 10 days – known as the 10 Days of Awe – Joni and I will lead a special Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur to the Jews) service on our campus. It will be streamed live on our website (7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4), and I hope you will choose to join us in person or online.

This year the season surrounding Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is especially significant. I don't say so, but God does.

You see, we're in the middle of a tetrad of four red blood moons – times when a type of lunar eclipse causes our moon to appear a dark shade of red when it is at a full moon. The first red blood moon of the tetrad occurred during Passover this year, and the second will coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles this month. Next year, both Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles also will be accompanied by red blood moons.

Some theologians will tell you that these red blood moons are meant to warn us on account of something mankind has done. They're not. God scheduled them at the creation of the world. But there is something He wants to show us through them. If the past is any indication, and I believe it is, this tetrad of four red blood moons means that something spiritually significant is going to happen in the next year. This is the eighth tetrad of red blood moons since 1 A.D., and the next one won't occur for 600 years. We have reason to expect God to do something amazing during this season!

I believe that during Rosh Hashanah, God creates a vacuum by withdrawing from us. There is a magnetism to a vacuum. It will draw into itself whatever it needs to be completed. God created a vacuum that only you and I can fill. There's an important spiritual truth that plays out each year at Rosh Hashanah: God gets close to you by withdrawing from you, to see how we will respond to His absence.

God is sovereign, and He has rightfully earned the right to be King over our lives. But Kingship is never imposed by the King – it is always initiated by the servant. We need to make Him King of our lives, by choice. And that usually means we have to get ourselves out of the throne room so He can take His rightful place there.

Is God in the throne room of your life? Every area of your life? Or have you moved Him to the guest room, because there's some aspect to your life you want to keep from Him (as though you could)? Oswald Chambers once memorably defined sin as “my claim to my right to myself.” When we decide that God can have all of us except this, we're making a claim of our right to ourselves, thereby shutting off God's power in that area of our lives. This is what God wants to show us during this season.

My encouragement to you during this holy season of the year – these 10 Days of Awe, culminating in the Day of Atonement – is to chase Him, so you can find yourself in the process. Fill the vacuum He has created. When you make Him your Sovereign, He will awake and manifest in your life as never before! And you will understand the meaning of the old hymn: