Monday 28 April 2008
- Bible Book:
- Deuteronomy
"Look, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live". (v.24)
Background
Here, Moses is reminding the Israelites of the time when theyheard God speaking and saw Mount Sinai on fire. They had activelyexperienced how awesome and scary God could be.
After that experience the Israelites wanted to listen to every wordGod had for them and obey it. They sent Moses to listen to andrecord every word and commandment God had for them and promised toobey whatever God said.
In this passage, God wryly comments to Moses that it would be somuch better if the people always related to God in this way.
The passage finishes with an encouragement to obedience based onthe benefits that will flow from it for the individual and thenation of Israel.
To Ponder
My faith and faithfulness both thrive on thememories of times when the love of God and signs of God in actionwere real to me and as clear as a mountain on fire. What were thesetimes for you?
To what extent are we prone to forget how scaryGod is and how serious the consequences of selfish andindividualistic behaviour are?
Instructions in the style of commandments don'tseem to speak to our 21st century society. What reminders of thecommon good are heard today?