Kneeling before a Holy God
As I've been working my way through the book of Exodus in my morning quiet times, last week I came across a very familiar story that struck me deeply. Through this reading the Lord showed me once more a glimpse of His holiness:
"On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him." -- Ex. 19:16-19 (Emphasis mine)
Don't you know that if we had been there all of us would have trembled, too, in seeing and hearing this manifestation of the holiness of almighty God.
As I was driving to work this morning thinking about this story, a scene from nearly 12 years ago came to mind. It was a hot June Saturday morning in Denton, Texas. I was sitting in a football stadium with about 10,000 men, attending my first Promise Keepers event. As the praise band led us in worship and then when the first keynote speaker delivered a riveting message out of the book of Romans, the holiness of God was present like I had never experienced before. My soul trembled. I felt like Isaiah in Isaiah 6, feeling deep in my soul how sinful I was and how desperately I needed a Savior.
The morning I read this story in Exodus, I immediately thought of the book of Hebrews and quickly flipped over to that precious book. Here's one of my favorite verses in that book:
"brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. -- Heb. 10:19-22
In light of this fresh glimpse into holiness of God I was especially comforted with this passage, and made more aware of why the gospel is so powerful...and why we so desperately need Jesus. I realized once more how prayer is such an incredible privilege -- because of the shed blood of Jesus we can, by faith, now approach our Holy Father with boldness and confidence, knowing that the Father loves us and won't turn us away. Wow!
Tomorrow night I'm speaking to our community friends who will be coming to our Wednesday night meal at Highland. We have a prayer corner and I'll be inviting them to go to the corner and share their prayer concerns. And I want to first share with them this message of God's holiness and grace and how communion with Him is made possible only through the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. Please pray for me as I speak and the community friends as they hear. May the Spirit of the living God fill that room as we all cry out to Him and declare His holiness and goodness and grace.
Jim
posted by Jim Clark @ 8:02 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
May God annoint you with His Spirit to speak the words He would have you share.
I appreciate you highlighting the holiness of our God. I think we forget, especially as we try to focus on God's grace and love and sharing Him with others. In a recent discussion I "sat in on" about dress in worship, there seemed to be an large emphasis on "being comfortable" enough to worship, and that in creating that environment, non-believers will thus feel comfortable enough to come hear the message.
I felt a lot of valid thoughts were expressed in that discussion. But it kind of goes back to yesterday's blog topic--that of speaking truth. God's holiness is real, and as an unchanging God, He is still holy. I think of Jesus' best friend, John, who is seen leaning on Jesus at the last supper, yet who lays on his face before Him in the book of Revelation, when Jesus' glory is revealed. As author Beth Moore says, "I don't think we have a clue Who we are dealing with!"
I join you in thankfulness for Jesus, whose blood covers us and makes us possible to approach the throne of God to find grace and mercy in our time of need. As we understand more His holiness, I think our gratitude increases as well.
Again, may God anoint you to speak words of truth and may He open the ears of those who hear you.--Beverly
Jim,
I am so thankful and blessed to be loved and challenged by you on a daily basis. My friend, you DO live a life of holiness. You live a life that is unceasingly surrendered to the hand of God. Your life is constantly down in the furtile soil of the Lord, allowing him to chisel away anything that would prevent the reign of the Holy Spirit within you. The relationship we share is such a blessing and a gift from the Lord. You are a priest in my life and I love the way you authentically, and humbly love Jesus. Thank you for allowing the love and joy that is so present in your life spill over into mine. Blessings brother. I love you more than you will ever know.
Isn't it interesting...we are made God's image and are His image-bearer's to others. Most of us have some grasp of what that means when it comes to being His love, or in expressing creative ideas, or loving animals or rejoicing in nature. But how do we represent His holiness? It seems the mirror is a little foggy on this one...Again, we need Jesus!
Thanks, my dear sisters in Christ, for your prayers, inights and encouragement. Great point, Bev, about how John fell on his face before the resurrected Lord in Revelation!
Don't you guys think that if we really grasped how holy God is, and how utterly sinful we are without Him, we would continually run to Jesus, see our desperate need for our Savior!
Jim
Jim - not only would we continually run to Him but we would continually fall trembling before Him. I think we miss that. I think we should be doing a whole lot more trembling. I find myself thinking about this a lot. Blessings on your talk tonight!!
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