Exodus 20:18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, (God had just revealed Himself at Mt. Sinai and had given Moses His Ten Commandments, displaying some of the mighty roar of His presence and His high standards of holy and sinless behavior through both sight and sound. Now, the magnitude of God's principles and benchmarks, coupled with the overwhelming display of His manifest Presence, was about to reveal to the people their own inadequacy. Though familiar sounds to the people in the natural, these sights and sounds were different, awesome and unmatched by anything they had known before.) they trembled with fear.They stayed at a distance (When we actually stand in the Presence of God Almighty, we will see and experience that which is so outside of our comprehension that we don't even have a name to describe it nor could we even withstand it in our human form. Up to this time, the people had pressed close to Mt. Sinai, curious and wanting to gaze on all this unknown wonder. Now, when the Lord revealed more of His mighty Presence, they were awed and in great fear. Before, they had easily declared they could accomplish what the Lord asked of them in terms of obedience. Now, they shrink back in terror at this awesome display. Today, the Lord generously and lovingly invites us to draw closer to Him through the standing we have in Christ and made possible by Him to help us understand more clearly God's awesome holiness and power and gain a greater understanding of the breathtaking Presence Who has chosen to reveal Himself to us and to embrace us as His Own.)
