They said to Moses, "You speak
with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." —Exodus
20:19
We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey
God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we
pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we
do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John
14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we
will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.
“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with
us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His
servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we
don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak
to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He
asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants
speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by
saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what
you said is probably God’s truth.”
Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring
Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do
hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then
becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the
result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is
tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.
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