{"id":164879,"date":"2023-03-03T04:31:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T10:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=164879"},"modified":"2023-02-27T06:19:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T12:19:20","slug":"43-g-wilderness-7-n-sinai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/03\/43-g-wilderness-7-n-sinai\/","title":{"rendered":"43.g. “Wilderness” – 7.n. Sinai – “Now when all the people saw”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Exodus 20:18<\/b>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off\u00a0and said to Moses, \u201cYou speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.\u201d\u00a0Moses said to the people, \u201cDo not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.\u201d The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 139:7-8<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?\u00a0\u00a0If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Isaiah 41:10<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Deuteronomy 13:3<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b> For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Deuteronomy 8:2<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Job 28:28<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And he said to man, \u2018Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Proverbs 1:7<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Proverbs 3:7<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Joshua 24:14<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u201cNow therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Deuteronomy 5:5<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 97:2<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>1 Timothy 6:16<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Deuteronomy 5:23<\/a><\/span>\u00a0explains why the mountain smoked; it says\u00a0the mountain was burning with fire. The awe of all the phenomenon did nothing to draw the people closer to God; it only made them stand\u00a0afar off. One might think that Israel loved the dramatic experience at Mount Sinai, and especially the honor of hearing God\u2019s voice like a loudspeaker from heaven. Instead, because of the great awe and dread they felt, they\u00a0wanted God to stop\u00a0speaking to them directly. This is a typical reaction of those who came into the presence of God, such as Isaiah who felt\u00a0undone\u00a0before God (Isaiah 6:1-5<\/span><\/a>) and John who fell as a dead man before the Lord (Revelation 1:17<\/span><\/a>). The people promised to hear and (by implication) obey the word of God that came to them by Moses. In following generations, Israel interpreted the law downward, so it could be more easily obeyed, removing the\u00a0heart\u00a0and\u00a0intent\u00a0of the law. Jesus exposed this shallow understanding of the law in His Sermon on the Mount.<\/p>\n

The people of Israel wanted to separate themselves from the manifest presence of God, but God meant it for good to\u00a0test<\/b>\u00a0them. The\u00a0test<\/b>\u00a0revealed to them what kind of God they served: a God above nature, personal, good, and holy. The\u00a0test<\/b>\u00a0revealed to them their own weakness and need for God\u2019s grace, help, and rescue. The\u00a0test<\/b>\u00a0revealed to them what God\u2019s expectations were, that God is a moral God who expects moral behavior from His people. That His fear may be before you<\/b>\u00a0speaks of the attitude of honor and reverence that leads to respect and obedience. Though it is better to obey God out of\u00a0fear<\/b>\u00a0than to disobey Him, God\u2019s ultimate motivation for obedience is love. This is clear from\u00a01 John 4:18-19<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. Moses had a relationship with God the common man in Israel did not have. Through the circumstances of his life and the direct revelation of God, Moses was aware of both God\u2019s holy power and also of God\u2019s glorious grace. (Guzik)<\/p>\n

This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, who can despise the gospel of Christ? And the knowledge of the law shows our need of repentance. In every believer’s heart sin is dethroned and crucified, the law of God is written, and the image of God renewed. The Holy Spirit enables him to hate sin and flee from it, to love and keep this law in sincerity and truth; nor will he cease to repent. (Henry)<\/p>\n

The Israelites drew near to the mountain. They were intrigued by what they saw and heard when the 10 commandments were given. Now in closeness to God and the power and might of presence, they heard and saw and felt the holy awesomeness of God and feared for their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What would our lives be like if we would have a reverent, trusting, and reliant fear of God? Would it be different than it is now? Would we fear, hate, anger, and be anxious less? Would we rejoice, praise, and worship more? Would we be content? Would greed, pride, and unkindness be not found in our lives? Would we run to the mountain of God or would we retreat to what we believe is a safe distance? Would we desire to be in the continual presence of God? Would we want to hear His voice with a desire to obey it for His honor and glory? Would things of this earth become less distracting and things of God become more encompassing? Would we know joy and peace that passes all understanding? Would we be more generous? Would we discern the quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit leading us? Would the Word of God be precious to us? Would our thoughts, words, and actions be in line with honor and glory to Jesus Christ? Would we hunger and thirst for His Word and leading so that this honor and glory would be pure?\u00a0 <\/span>Would we??????<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exodus 20:18\u00a0\u00a0Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off\u00a0and said to Moses, \u201cYou speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest … Continue reading “43.g. “Wilderness” – 7.n. Sinai – “Now when all the people saw””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[598,16627,2050,2985,3425,813,16632,16625,612,915,16628,251,76,38,3653,80,6698,2151,309,16630,796,219,850,550,5751,849,3491,914,5557,315,3652,6699,16631,16626,15858,3317,4442,12604,11348,12168,3654,16629,9172,701,7460,532],"class_list":["post-164879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-afraid","tag-all-you-soul","tag-beginning-of-knowledge","tag-commandments","tag-declare","tag-dismayed","tag-drew-near","tag-eternal-dominion","tag-faithfulness","tag-fear-the-lord","tag-flashes-of-lightning","tag-flee","tag-god","tag-heaven","tag-help-you","tag-honor","tag-humble-you","tag-i-am-your-god","tag-immortality","tag-lest-we-die","tag-lord","tag-moses","tag-presence","tag-remember","tag-righteous-right-hand","tag-serve-him","tag-sheol","tag-sincerity","tag-speak-to-us","tag-spirit","tag-strengthen-you","tag-testing-you","tag-the-people-stood-far-off","tag-the-whole-way-of-the-lord","tag-thick-darkness","tag-thunder","tag-trembled","tag-trumpet","tag-turn-away-from-evil","tag-unapproachable-light","tag-uphold-you","tag-we-will-listen","tag-what-is-in-your-heart","tag-wilderness","tag-wise-in-your-own-eyes","tag-word-of-the-lord"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164879"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164883,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164879\/revisions\/164883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}