Be Afraid!

I beg your indulgence. One of the immense pleasures of my job is that I get to spend quality time every week simply reading books as I prepare to write articles for our website. (Yes, it’s a tough assignment!)

But every once in a while I run across something in one of the books that just strikes me. I don’t necessarily feel obligated (or adequate) to explain it or expound on it, it just begs to be shared.

That was the case recently as I was reading the book None Greater by Matthew Barrett. He was writing about the incomprehensibility of God, and offers this picture of Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai.

He must have been petrified.

Most likely in the fetal position, he curled up behind a rock. Knees shaking, palms sweaty, throat dry, he prepared himself to see that which no one had dared to see before.

He must have wondered whether he would live to tell others about it. Perhaps not. No one would believe him even if he did.

The man hiding behind the rock was Moses. And he was about to see the back of God.

How could this be? For as Moses knew all too well, God is incomprehensible; no one can know—or see!—the very essence of God and live.[1]

Does that give you just the tiniest idea of the awesome, terrifying majesty of God? Does that help explain the reactions of Isaiah and John when they encountered God’s glory (Isaiah 6:1-8; Revelation 1:12-18)?

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. (Isaiah 46:9)

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[1] Matthew Barrett, None Greater (Baker Publishing Group: Kindle Edition), pp. 15-16.