The Story: Chapter 5 The Bible: Exodus 19-20
Exodus 20:1-17 [The Decalogue]
Exodus 20:18-19 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.”
Moses had been told the commands that would soon be written in permanent record on tablets. The LORD’s presence on the mountain was accompanied by thundering, lightning, the sound of the horn, smoke that covered the area as a dense cloud, and an earlier passage (19:18) states the mountain shook violently. Clearly this awakened the sense of sight, sense of hearing, sense of feeling, and while not specifically noted in scriptures, perhaps even the sense of smell of smoke or even the sense of tasting of soot from the air. The point is the people knew Something was different, Something was greater than their understanding or comprehension, and their immediate reaction was fear. That Something was actually SomeOne, it was The LORD.
Were they fearful because of the magnitude of the event itself? Were they fearful because they recognized their own sinfulness? They had been warned not to approach the mountain. They had just witnessed the destruction of the Egyptians. Now they ask Moses to direct the actions of God, (cf. do not let God speak with us…) and apparently they still needed to understand Who was really in charge—God is in control of all things, and Moses was his servant. Yet even now, there are words of comfort and encouragement for them.
Exodus 20:20-21 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
Many biblical scholars agree that the phrase, come to test you carries the sense of God proving his Nature to the people through the terrifying sights and sounds. God wanted the people to know Him, to understand Him, to put the fear of Him in their hearts that would lead to obedience. Scholars suggest God was inspiring them to obey, not necessarily testing them to see if they would. And perhaps that is our lesson today. Does the fear of God simply scare us? Or does the fear of God—the knowledge of His greatness, divine nature, and compassion—inspire us to obey?
Today’s Prayer Suggestion: Acknowledge the greatness and divine Nature of the LORD God. Ask for a renewed sense of obedience to our Heavenly Father.
The devotional Inspiration to Obey appeared first on Write From My Heart at
https://writefrommyheartblog.blogspot.com
Email: Dotty Willmon, writefrommyheartblog@gmail.com
The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright © 1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
General format for WFMH devotionals will follow the pattern of chapters outlined in The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, M. Lucado & R. Frazee, Zondervan, 2005, 2008, 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment