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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