Lightning, Thunder, and Limits.

May 5

Read: Exodus 19

Lightning, Thunder, and Limits

“For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it.” (v.11,12)

There are two truths that seem to pull in opposites directions against each other that the people of God must live in the middle of: 1.) God is consistently revealing and showing more and more of himself to us and 2.) there are limits to what we handle in this body. God “comes down on the mountain” in the midst of his people, and yet Moses must “set limits for the people all around”.

We need to be reminded of this daily really. I was talking with my Friend Mike Deloach about this very idea as we sat in the parking lot of a BBQ place here in Greenville. How do we know when to throw up our hands and say, “ we simply cannot know”… or when are we “close enough to God on the mountain” and we should not press any further? Here is the truth: God by nature is a REVEALER, at the core of his identity is a willingness to reveal himself and his work to us, to welcome us into participation with him, and to open the eyes, ears, and hearts of his people to see the Kingdom of God. Think of how he came seeking Adam and Eve in the cool of the morning. (cf. Gen. 3:8) Think of how God shows up in a pillar of fire and smoke to guide his people, and he tells Moses exactly what it is he is going to do. (cf. Exodus 1-19) Remember this truth from Philippians 2, that God left heaven, put on flesh, and came to earth in the person of The Son, Jesus Christ… and “in him (Jesus) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Col. 1:19,20) The clearest proof of this may be James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” I mean, God has even embedded his attributes into all of creation around us so that “no one is with excuse”. (cf. Rom. 1:18-32)

God has consistently closed the gap between himself and his people, and revealed to them what he longs for and requires. He leads us and speaks to us and reveals to us his work and how we are a part of what God is doing. This revelation includes the scriptures! By this measure alone, who can say we have tapped out all that is able to be known about God? When we say “we cannot know all of God’s ways”, have we even exhausted the ones he HAS let us know in the scriptures? We need to calibrate the way we think about God. He is not hiding form us or keeping us in the dark unnecessarily. My hunch is he is more willing to reveal, share, and allow himself to be known than we expect or take advantage of. This is truth 1.

The second is this: there are limits. Humans don’t like to have limits. We don’t like to think that there are diseases we can’t cure, or mountains we can’t climb, or things we cannot know. The stated goal of Alphabet Inc. (Google) is to gather all the knowledge in the universe and then make it accessible to everyone… we want to know it all. We can’t. We are too weak. We are too fragile and easily broken. God comes down on the mountain in our midst… but there needs to be a “velvet rope” around the base. Not everyone can come running up the mountain. In fact, only Moses and Aaron come up there. The rest don’t get to… not now.

It will not always be this way. On the new earth everyone will have access to and be in the presence of The Lord. Someday we will all “climb up the mountain” and sit with God like Moses. Until then, we live in this tension. Some of you have not even scratched the surface of what God is teaching you and calling you into. You have been told of a supremely unknowable and mysterious God and as a result he is distant and hiding for you… like a game of cosmic hide and seek… and you have to spend your life hoping to catch a tiny glimpse of him as he is running away. This is actually not true… God is calling you to KNOW him and have a RELATIONSHIP with him. Some of you think you know it all… that you already have it all “nailed down”. You actually don’t… and there are some “limits”. There is some “mystery” left. “We see now as through a glass dimly what one day we will see face to face.” (1 Cor. 13:12) Live in this tension! My friend Mike taught me that. Each day ask the Lord to give you eyes to see him and ears to hear his voice as he speaks to you. Look for him “on the mountain”. But when you do run up against your limits… remember they are there for your safety and well being… and someday those limits will be removed! Love you guys. - JDP