Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:18-21
Fear can be defined as “the feeling or condition of being afraid.” If that is used as the baseline, what do we fear? A scary movie? The threat of violence? Death? Today, the threat of terrorist attacks, random acts of violence and the uncertainty of everyday life can leave us in a state of fear. The potential for all these things are designed specifically to leave an impression of fear on us, to change our behavior so we live in a perpetual state of being afraid.
When God descended down to the mountain to meet with the Israelites, the presence of God was a fearful experience: Thunder, lightning, thick cloud, loud trumpet blasts, fire and smoke of furnace, the mountain shaking violently, and Moses speaking and God answering with thunder (Exodus 19:16-19). The experience made the Israelites tremble in fear. In the end, they declined to meet with and hear from God firsthand. Instead they told Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” They had experienced a small portion of God and decided they had gotten close enough.
It was the same God they had witnessed perform the miracle of the plagues in Egypt, the miracle at the parting of the sea, and the provisions to date in the wilderness. This time, it was different, now they experienced God in power and might like they had never seen before. And they were afraid.
Moses calmed the peoples’ fears by pointing out the purpose of God’s manifestation on the mountain—so “His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” God’s introduction to the Israelites was designed to make an impression on them, to implant a reminder of who God is so each temptation to sin and rebel was countered with a reminder of God’s holy power, majesty and might. Truly witnessing and experiencing God in the fullness of holiness is a transformative experience that does not allow us to be easily entangled in unrighteousness. A true encounter with God is a life altering experience.
Sometimes we are so enamored and comforted by our relationship with God as our friend and as the eternal agent of grace, mercy, and love in our lives, that we soften and detach God from the divine position as the singular presence of holiness in the universe. The world seeks to create fear in us to make us afraid. The fear of God is not designed to make us afraid, but to make us hold God in reverence for who God is, and make us like God, holy. If we are going to live in fear, let’s live in fear of the right one, God.
Lesson to Remember: If we are going to live in fear, fear the right one, God.
