You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:4-6 ESV)
What’s fascinating about this chapter is God’s desire to communicate with His people.
It would be easy to just believe that God would talk to Moses and Moses would reply and that was it. The desire, however, is for the Lord to come in the sight of the people and to engage with them.
Yet to engage with God does have certain prerequisites. The meeting with God is an awesome event – that’s evident in the natural phenomena that signals His arrival. It’s also evident in the response it has on the people.
Nowadays it’s not as straight forward to appreciate because regular church gatherings and encounters with God are not typically marked by great billowing clouds and trumpets. Some endeavour to capture that sense of reverential awe through the use of incense and the insistence that people have the approach of quiet and slight dread.
What these miss out on, though, is the that desire God has to engage with His people so that they realise His purpose. God still has values and standards as to how to consecrate ourselves to engage with Him. These values and standards have as much to do with the state of our hearts as anything. A state of heart consecrated to Him is pure towards Him – that is to say it is for Him and Him alone especially in the light of what He has done for us and what He desires to do for us, through us and to bless others for His glory.
External displays of mahesty and power can evoke a reaction, but God wants us to be ever prepared to encounter Him and truly engage with Him so that we realise His purpose for us. Those encounters are available every day if we have the consecrated lives to receive it.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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