They stayed at a distance

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, the trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Exodus 20:18-19

When God drives up at a gathering he can arrive in whatever car he chooses. When God decides to show us a small piece of Who he is, he gets to decide the terms. If he wants to come with thunder and lightning, that is his choice. If he wants to come with some trumpet and fanfare… he can do it! If he wants to be in a still, small voice, the whisper of a child or the guise of a beggar: any of these are options for God. When God delivers a message, he can add whatever packaging he wants to add and it reinforces rather than invalidates the message. John the Baptist’s packaging was different than the Magi. The writing on the wall was different than the plagues in Egypt. Which was right and which was “unbiblical”? Who of us gets to dictate to God how he may or may not manifest his presence? We get so overly righteous assessing whether something was or was not God that we throw the baby out with the bath water. If there is some harmful, clearly devious evidence of a spiritual world that is not God, then weigh it, judge it and avoid it. But if God is wrapping his word in a tangible expression of his presence, don’t stay at a distance.

In the past year we saw God’s presence in ways that were, for us at least, unusual. (At least they start off as unusual.) Someone becomes aware of angels in a room so that what we have sung for decades—“and I know that there are angels all around” —takes on a whole new meaning. Another actually sees angels. What appears to be a fine gold dust appears on one’s face, hands, or clothing. A colleague was moving house and opened the trunk of her car to see a pile of “gold dust”—she called others over to witness it and to take a photo. The laptop on which I am typing was brand new with a mat black finish: now only the topside has a fine spray of gold dust, and it has been that way since April when I was at a conference at Bethel Church in Redding, CA, sitting in the lobby doing emails… when I closed my laptop I noticed the gold. Many have verified that they see it too.

The people said, “This is out of our comfort zone!” and Moses said:

Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. Exodus 20:20

Let’s remember the context. God had just delivered The 10 Commandments. The people desperately needed an experience of the supernatural presence of God if they were to comprehend and walk out the heart of these weighty commandments. Instead of saying, “Give us more of your presence or we can never handle these commandments” they said, “We don’t want to deal with the spooky stuff that is outside our comfort zone.”  Yet the manifestation of God’s presence is often proportional to the assignment at hand. God doesn’t dish out jobs without offering to be present in whatever way fits the situation, from trumpets to silence. Don’t run from the smoke and lightning and thunder and trumpets when they may be just what you need to carry out the instruction of God.

The people remained at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. Exodus 20:21