Awestruck in WonderSample

Freedom to Walk with God

It was the third month after Israel’s escape from the land of Egypt. Three months earlier, God had dramatically freed and rescued them from Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They had been through quite an ordeal. They saw a dramatic victory at the Red Sea. They received God’s miracle of manna. They had victory over the Amalekites who’d attacked them. Now, they entered the wilderness of Sinai.

You would think that freedom would lead to a new level of maturity and understanding, greater faith, and dependence on God. But Bible commentator Warren Wiersbe observed, “If freedom doesn’t lead to maturity, then we end up imprisoned in a bondage worse than what we had before, a bondage from within, and not from without. It’s bad enough to be enslaved by an Egyptian taskmaster but it’s even worse to enslave yourself and become your own taskmaster.”

The Israelites camped in front of Mount Sinai. God called Moses and told him that He wanted a relationship with Israel. God didn’t deliver Israel so they could live apart from Him. He delivered them so they could walk with Him as His people. In Exodus 19:5–6, God reminds them of His incomparable sovereignty, adding that if they obey Him, they will bless His heart.

Moses told the people all that the Lord commanded him to say, and they responded: “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” The Lord told Moses to consecrate the people in preparation for the third day when He would come down on Mount Sinai. He gave stern warnings. This must have been truly terrifying, and, at the same time, awe-inspiring! When the people who were in the camp began to experience the power of God on display, they trembled. The Lord descended on Mount Sinai with fire, smoke, earthquakes, thunder, and the sound of trumpets. The mountain was covered in the fullness of the glory of God, the presence of the most holy God!

When we see rightly who God is, and discern what God wants, we will respond to Him in awe and wonder, the kind that draws us to repentance and obedience. God did not deliver us so that we could live life apart from Him. He delivered us so that we would walk with Him.

Lord, I want to walk with You. Help me to rightly see who You are and how You want me to live. I want to serve You.

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