Exodus 19

In Exodus 19 God announces that He is going to speak audibly to the Isrealites. What did it sound like?? Did the small children stand in awe?? Were there crying babies?? Did anyone have a list of questions to ask God?? Did those who may have been deaf still hear?? Whatever those answers may be, we see that God gives them strict commands to get “clean” before He meets with them. He gives them three days to “consecrate themselves and to wash their garments” (19:10). We can trust that the Israelites did these things because God does as promised and shows up to meet with them.

My favorite part of this passage is in verse 16. “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lighting flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.”

These people had just spent three days preparing for what was about to happen, they knew what was coming, yet the got scared. It makes me think….we do all these things to serve God but the closer He draws us to HImself, we too should tremble. God is beyond our earthly definition of being holy and perfect….our sin should be so obvious and so offensive when we “meet with Him” that we cry in horror for our shortcomings and praise Him for His perfection. I am so thankful that not only is He above sin, but He gave us the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit  to live in us. He lives in us to convict and to conform us to the likeness of Christ.  What does this look like in a practical way?? His Word is sharper than a double edged sword. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit and the reading of His Word you should be recognizing things that are keeping you from having a pure heart. God’s grace, His mercies, His power, His love….beyond our comprehension but still living inside of us.