God Speaks With Man
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 5:22-27 (NASB)
22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 24 You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. 25 Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’
SUMMARY
Moses continues to speak to the Israelites before they cross over to the promised land. He reminds the people that the Lord had spoken to them from the midst of the darkness, of the fire, and yet they had lived. Through this experience, the people learned that God speaks with man, and they trembled in fear because they had seen His glory and greatness. They had asked Moses to go near to God to hear the words He spoke and to relay His words to them so that they may hear and do them.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
In verse 23, it says that the Israelites heard the voice of the Lord “from the midst of darkness.” I thought about this for a bit and I saw God’s voice as a light that pierces through the darkness. God spoke, “Let there be light,” (Gen. 1:3) and there was light in the midst of the darkness and chaos. The first ray of light came to the world when God spoke. Also, in John it says that the Word came down to earth: Jesus. Jesus was and is the Word, the true Light that came to the dark world and conquered the greatest darkness of all: death.
When I think about this world without God, I find that it is a place of utter darkness — a place of sickness, evil, pain, and suffering. Reflecting back on some of the incidents I had experienced in my own life, they felt like thick darkness — heavy, suffocating, and left me feeling helpless. But, I am reminded in this passage and I have to continue to remind myself of this truth: Jesus is my Light, and He shines in the darkness of this world, of my circumstances, and of my very own heart and mind. There are times when I believe the lie that the darkness is too great for God, but here and in many other places in Scripture, I see that God is greater than any darkness in the spiritual realm, in this world, and in myself. He is a Light that no one can snuff out or defeat!
APPLICATION
The most powerful way I come to faith and believe that God is greater than the darkness is by hearing His voice. The Israelites encountered God’s glory and His greatness by hearing Him speak from the midst of the fire, and they learned that “God speaks with man” (v. 24). I have never heard His audible voice before, but I have certainly heard Him speak to me clearly through His Word and in prayer. When I encounter God speaking to me personally, I come to see God’s glory and gain wisdom, purpose, and direction right then and there as the psalmist did in Psalm 73:16-17.
In order to better hear from God, I want to slow down when reading the Word and give God ample time in prayer each day. I have been whizzing through the QT passages and I would pick just a few topics to pray for (quickly) each morning. I know that I am missing what the Lord wants to share with me from His heart. So, in order to do this, I will wake up an hour earlier than usual to give God enough time to speak with me in the morning. I will start with this.
PRAYER
Dear Almighty Father, thank You that You are God who speaks with man. Your voice is powerful and full of majesty (Psalm 29), and I want to hear You and follow You each moment of each day. What do You want to tell me today? Please show me what is in Your heart that I may hear and obey.
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