Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

February 3
Tuesday


A REFRESHER
COURSE ON
GOD'S MAJESTY

READ:
Exodus 33:1-11
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You cannot see My
face; for no man shall
see Me, and live.
__Exodus 33:20
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My book Disappointment With God explores three questions many Christians ask: Is God hidden? Is God silent? Is God unfair? It struck me that those questions did not trouble the Hebrews in the Sinai wilderness. They saw evidence of God every day, heard Him speak, and lived under a contract signed in His own hand. Out of this relationship emerged a great gift from the Jews to the world: monotheism--the belief in one sovereign, holy God.

Today many treat God like a cosmic good buddy. We could use a refresher course from the Old Testament on God's majesty.

Pastor Gordon MacDonald writes, "The most costly sins I have committed came at a time when I briefly suspended my reverence for God.... I quietly (and insanely) concluded that God didn't care and most likely wouldn't intervene were I to risk the violation of one of His commandments.

MacDonald says his own love for God has moved away from a sentimental model, which never satisfied him, to something closer to a father/son model. He is learning to reverence, obey, and thank God; to express appropriate sorrow for sin; to pursue a quietness in which he might hear God whisper. He seeks a relationship with God appropriate to the profound difference between the two parties.

As God's children, we may "come boldly to the throne of grace" (Heb. 4:16). But let us ever be mindful of our Father's inestimable majesty. __Philip Yancey
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To worship is to recognize
the supreme worth of God.

*************Todays Bible Reading __ Exodus 33:1-11*************

1 Then the LORD said to
Moses, "Depart and go up
from here, you and the
people whom you have
brought out of the land of
Egypt, to the land of which I
swore to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.... 3 Go up to a
land flowing with milk and
honey; for I will not go up in
your midst, lest I consume
you on the way, for you are a
stiff-necked people."

4 And when the people
heard this bad news, they
mourned, and no one put on
his ornaments. 5 For the
LORD had said to Moses,
"Say to the children of Israel,
'You are a stiff-necked
people. I oculd come up into
your midst in one moment
and consume you. Now
therefore, take off your
ornaments, that I may know
what to do to you.' "...

7 Moses took his tent and
pitched it outside the camp,
far from the camp, and called
it the tabernacle of meeting.
And it came to pass that
everyone who sought the
LORD went out to the
tabernacle of meeting....

8 So it was, whenever Moses
went out to the tabernacle,
that all the poeple rose, and
each man stood at his tent
door and watched Moses
until he had gone into the
tabernacle. 9 and it came to
pass, when Moses entered
the tabernacle, that the pillar
of cloud descended and stood
at the door of the tabernacle,
and the LORD talked with
Moses. 10 all the people saw
the pillar of cloud standing at
the tabernacle door, and all
the people rose and
worshiped, each man in his
tent door. 11 So the LORD
spoke to Moses face to face,
as a man speaks to his friend.