“Then the Lord said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5
God is holy. He should be reverenced and feared.
Do we put God in a box? Do we limit His power with our feeble faith? Do we carry our own burdens thinking He’s not strong enough to? Do we have low expectations in our lives because our God is not BIG enough? Is He just a convenient trophy we pull out to admire every once in a while; just an imaginary friend we can talk to in the silence?
HE’S SO MUCH MORE.
Hebrews has this awesome portion of scripture where it starts the chapter with “…let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it…” And then ends with “…come boldly to the throne of grace…”
It shows the great contradiction that serves a balance in our lives.
If we were overcome with fear of God - and ONLY fear - we would never approach Him with our lives. We would cower in a corner wondering when the next moment He would zap us to pieces.
If we ONLY had boldness, we would be placing God underneath our feet treating Him as a slave or Jeanie.
We MUST have both FEAR and BOLDNESS.
We must have a healthy amount of fear of God because He IS GOD. Period. And we must have boldness because Christ came that we may have that ability to approach God and lay everything at His feet. The boldness to be able to touch the hem of His cloak and say, “I believe, help my unbelief.”
Moses was called into the presence of God. In a way, this picture of Moses removing his sandals because it was a holy place is also reminiscent of our approach with God. We need to be aware that we are entering His dwelling place. We must remove our doubts, our sin, our inabilities, our small faith. We cannot be halfhearted and not serious about being in the very presence of God.
“There is no fear of God in their eyes.” Romans 3:18
It’s so easy to humanize God and place Him in a box and pull Him out every once in a while. To look at Him and see a tame and tired lion behind a cage at the zoo.
MAY IT NOT BE LORD!
We must understand the wild and UNBRIDLED Lion which has fierce anger and retribution in His paws. At the mere thought of sin, an Israelite would be killed for their betrayal to not making God FIRST and obeying His commands. YET! Yet He came in His power and might and glory and He showed us MERCY.
We need to understand that we approach an untamed Lion. He is to be reverenced and feared. He is holy.
I once read this quote which has always jarred me:
“We have defanged the tiger of truth. We have tamed the lion…the tragedy of modern faith is that we no longer are capable of being terrified…
…I would like to suggest that the Church become a place of terror again; a place where God continually has to tell us, “Fear not”; a place where our relationship with God is not a simple belief or a doctrine or theology, it is God’s burning presence in our lives. I am suggesting that the tame God of relevance be replaced by the God whose very presence shatters our egos to dust, burns our sin into ashes, and strips us naked to reveal the real person within. The Church needs to become a gloriously dangerous place where nothing is safe in God’s presence except us. Nothing – including our plans, our agendas, our priorities, our politics, our money, our security, our comfort, our possessions, our needs.
…Our world is…longing to see people whose God is big and holy and frightening and gentle and tender…and ours; a God whose love frightens us into His strong and powerful arms where He longs to whisper those terrifying words, ‘I love you.’” – Mike Yaconelli
We must give Him all the glory and all the praise. Because when we approach God, we stand on “holy ground.”
So let us approach Him with a healthy fear and firm boldness knowing that this untamed Lion laid down His life that we may approach His throne of grace.
Maybe one of the only times where it makes sense where boldness and fear be in the same room.
~ Kissy Black
