Do Not Let God Speak to Us

AM Psalm 37:1-18 • PM Psalm 37:19-42
Exod. 20:1-21 • Col. 1:24-2:7 • Matt. 4:1-11

Our reading from Exodus today is the story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. What stood out to me was the Israelites’ reaction to this close encounter with God. The story goes in Chapter 20:18-21:

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.’ Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

You can imagine why these folks were scared; God had shown them all sorts of power. God had caused a lot of plagues and killed a lot of people by the time the Israelites made it to Mount Sinai. I’m sure that most people were afraid of crossing God.

I think people now always assume God has gentle intentions for the world, and that only humankind or perhaps Satan is behind the things that we find uncomfortable or awful. The Israelites may very well have assumed the opposite. On top of that, the only commandments they had received up until this point were the ones associated with the Passover. They weren’t quite sure what God wanted from them other than sheep’s blood once a year. They were afraid to hear God’s words directly. Maybe it was because they were afraid that they would be condemned for unknown sins.

What a relief it must have been to receive the boundaries that God wanted the people to live under! Upon hearing Moses interpret God’s word, they knew God had good intentions and they knew how to live a life as God intended.

Written by Haley Hixson

I am so excited about Coffee Hour’s return. I look forward to milling around with you, come say hi to me!