"1 One day Moses was tending the
flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the
priest of Midian. He led the flock far
into the wilderness and came to Sinai,
the mountain of God. 2 There the angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing
fire from the middle of a bush. Moses
stared in amazement. Though the bush was
engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up. 3
"This is amazing," Moses said to
himself. "Why isn't that bush burning
up? I must go see it." 4 When the Lord
saw Moses coming to take a closer look,
God called to him from the middle of the
bush, "Moses! Moses!" "Here I am!" Moses
replied.
5 "Do not come any
closer," the Lord warned. "Take off your
sandals, for you are standing on holy
ground. 6 I am the God of your
father[c]-the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When Moses
heard this, he covered his face because
he was afraid to look at God." (Exodus
3:1-6)
"I am the Lord, who makes
you holy and who brought you out of
Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord."
(Leviticus 22:32-33)
Thought:
Pizza, spectacular sporting events,
and God. What do all of these have in
common? All have been referred to as
AWESOME! I certainly know what is meant
by the first two items on the list.
Awesome is a word, however, that should
be reserved exclusively for Almighty
God.
The word awesome, in the
biblical sense, means "to show the
proper sense of respect and wonder that
is inspired and demanded by an encounter
with or meditation on the character and
activity of God."
Moses had that
transforming encounter with the presence
of God on Mount Sinai. God got his
attention with the miraculous sight of a
bush engulfed in flames. Not only that,
but He amazed him as He called out
Moses' name from the burning bush (v.4).
Often God has to do something
uncommon to get our attention so we can
realize who He is and direct our full
attention to Him. God would not let
Moses treat Him as common, trite, or
ordinary. He instructed him not to come
any closer and to remove his sandals
because he was standing on holy ground
(v.5). After these instructions, the
Lord introduced Himself to Moses, and
Moses responded with the respect and
wonder that was demanded by his
encounter with God (v.6). God's awesome
presence calls for quiet reverence and
quintessential respect.
Wouldn't
it be great to say the word awesome and
have people immediately realize that you
are referring exclusively to God!
I enjoy pizza (preferably Papa
Johns), but a large cheese and sausage
does not inspire reverence. Sporting
events are wonderful recreational
pastimes, but they hardly demand wonder
and respect.
God created the
entire world from nothing, created
humanity from the dust of the ground,
breathed into man the breath of life,
and brought salvation to undeserving
sinners like us through Jesus Christ.
Now, that's AWESOME.
Questions to consider:
***Do I remember the last time I
trembled at the awesomeness of God?
***How will I let the knowledge of
God transform my life today?
***In what way have I made the "sacred"
common and the "holy" familiar?
Visions of God lead to reverence before
God.
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