Friday Faithfuls Two: Exodus

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Week two on this little fly through the Bible looking for a verse that resonates; today the verse that caught my attention was Ex. 20:18

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain covered with smoke, they trembled with fear.  They stayed at a distance,

We kind of forget that, in the narrative of the Exodus, there was a moment when God descended upon the mountain and spoke to all the people, not just Moses.

And it completely freaked them out.

Because they, individually and corporately, did not have a relationship with this being who was manifesting himself in their very presence.  They didn't know or understand his heart for them.  They begged Moses to speak to God on their behalf... "Do not have God speak to us or we will die." (Ex. 20:19).

They were not comfortable with a personal God.    And they refused to hear him speak to them in person.  

It's a difficult thing to have to face that which you'd rather not believe is true.  This guy Moses did stuff, and he pulled them out of Egypt, but I don't think the people truly believed that it was the Lord of Hosts who was calling the shots.  You can see this in their behavior during the years in the wilderness...they gave Moses all kinds of grief, often accusing him of being the decision maker who brought them out into the wilderness on a wild goose chase (I am extreme paraphrasing here).  But...the thunder and lightning and trumpets and that voice...  that was undeniable.  And they couldn't handle it.

So they deputized Moses to hear and report, rather than stand up and listen for themselves.  And, down the road, it became easy to believe Moses wasn't reporting accurately.  They had someone to blame.

But if God spoke directly to them...they couldn't blame anyone but themselves.

Now, they weren't allowed on the mountain itself, but God's instructions were to keep them from coming into the holy darkness.  They were welcome to come up to the boundary he set, so they could hear him clearly.  But they stayed at a distance; the connotation is that they stayed as far away as they could...instead of coming as close as they could. And it only took them about 6 weeks to forget they'd heard the voice of God at all.

This really resonates today; how many times do God's people forget that they heard his voice?  At a conference, in a church service, even in the prayer closet...we hear God, we see him move and six weeks later we're right back where we were.   We forget.  We hang back, as far away as we dare instead of as close as we can.  

I know I'm guilty; a browse through an old journal reminds me of things I heard that I still haven't walked out because...I forgot.  I didn't press in.  Sometimes I'm even amazed that I heard what I recorded.  That was fantastic...why didn't I grab it and make it part of me?

I was afraid.  I didn't want to be responsible.  I didn't want to give up...whatever it was that I might have to give up to walk in that revelation. 

And that wasn't at all where I thought I'd end up when I picked that verse but here we are.  I think I need to do some pondering.  And probably some repenting.