Re: Verse reading–Exodus 19:1-12, 16-22 (day seven)
“Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. . . the whole mountain trembled violently.”–v. 18. The true God is both tender and terrifying. Believers know both sides of our Great God. His first words to us are grace. See v. 4. He offers a life of peculiar blessing/opportunity. See v. 5. None of this, however, must be interpreted as weakness. He is fearful, holy, and dangerous! Just as a child first experiences his mother’s tenderness (first stages of life) only later to experience her firm discipline, learns to love her and then fear her, so, God is tender with us in salvation and tough on us as we begin to grow into maturity. “Therefore, knowing the FEAR of the Lord, we persuade men”, said Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. The God we serve is both tender and terrifying, grace and government, merciful and mighty. May the Lord restore this balance in every Christian heart.
