Look, Live, and Lecture

“Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?” (De 4:33 AV)

The first part of this book is Moses’ dissertation for the nation of Israel prior to their entering Canaan.  Exactly to what Moses is referring could either be the voice and direction of God from the pillar of fire or smoke, or the voice of God when He gave the law on mount Sinai.  Whichever seems to be the case, it must have been quite a sight.  To hear the thunder and know that God was speaking to man must have been a life-changing experience.  At least it should have been.  The point of the question is found in the last two words.  Hearing the voice of God directly in all His glory would normally cause such a reaction the observer would not survive.  This suggests that God sustained the individuals through the experience so the natural forces would not seize their faculties.  The application is the nation that hears the voice of God and survives is a special nation whom God loves and desires to use for His glory.  This also implies a necessary calling.  If one is going to survive the awesome glory of God, they should surrender to His hand and purpose.  They should surrender to whatever God has for them.  If they survived by the mercy of God when others would not, then there is something owed to God.  There is something that gratitude should force them to do. 

There have been several times in my young life when the LORD kept me from an early death.  One such experience happened when I was about nine or ten.  My father was out of work and he was offered an interview at GE in Seneca Falls, NY.  For some odd reason, my father did not want to make the trip alone.  So, he needed a volunteer.  Tag, I was it.  The weather was not conducive to safe travel.  It would be two hours there.  And two hours home.  My mother was beside herself.  The weather was getting progressively worse.  She pled with my father not to go.  To reschedule the interview.  He was resolute.  He needed to go.  GE even offered to put him up in a room, but he chose to make the drive in one day.  My mom tried to convince him to leave me at home.  She pled again.  A tear or two came to her eyes.  Yet my father, one to make up his mind and be too stubborn to change, took me along.  Off we went.  About eight or nine in the morning, we hit the road.  His interview was at noon.  My dad’s vehicle was a quarter-ton Datson pickup truck.  Rear-wheel drive with all the weight in the front.  It was snowing all the way.  Not too bad, but a constant fall of snow.  We had gotten off the thruway and were headed on some country roads.  Entering a bend in the road, my dad lost control of the truck.  We were skidding off the road sideways.  My side of the truck was leading the way.  With all the skill of a NASCAR driver having been bumped from the rear, my dad was able to gain control of the truck with an oak tree not ten feet from my door.  He was able to shoot ahead and back on the road just before my life came to an end.  I will never forget that for as long as I live.

We may not have faced death or experienced God in such a way it would end our lives.  Perhaps not.  But the truth of the matter is, that we have experienced the mercy of God in far more ways than we will ever know.  For starters, we are saved from an eternity of God’s wrath.  In His mercy, He has forgiven us from all our sin and the blood of Christ cleanses us from every stain we have or will produce.  In His mercy, we will enjoy the glories of heaven purely by His grace.  We have experienced the voice of God.  Every time we open the word of God, we hear His voice.  Every time we witness the majesty of creation, we see His handiwork and testify to His greatness.  We experience God in very real and dramatic ways.  And we survive.  We shouldn’t.  The glory of God is more than we can bear.  But by His grace, we do.  We live!  And because we do we have a story to tell.  A story that is found in gratitude.  We do not look upon the mountain on fire and cower in the corner.  Perfect love casts out fear.  Rather, we look upon the fire of God’s glory and are moved to tell others that His mercy awaits them, too.