A Crackling Fire
Exodus 24:17-18
Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Not so long ago, the glory of the Lord appeared to these same people through a tempest on Sinai’s peak. Before that, the glory of the Lord appeared to them at the Red Sea, as mighty waters stood muzzled above them like lions on a leash. Before that, God’s glory appeared to them as a cloud by day and a fire by night as He protected them from Pharaoh’s encroaching army. Before that, God’s glory appeared to them through a midnight Passover, where the Angel of the Lord swept over their blood-stained doorposts and spared the lives of their firstborn. Before that, God’s glory appeared to them in a series of miraculous pestilences that Pharaoh’s wizards couldn’t imitate. Before that, God’s glory appeared to them in the emergence of Moses whose very presence was proof that Heaven had heard their affliction. So Exodus 24:17 is nothing new for these blessed people. This appearance is just a fresh page in their scrapbook of divine wonders. And if they don’t follow after God with their whole hearts from here, if they choose to run after dumb idols and sell their souls to demonic practices, it won’t be for lack of God’s faithfulness, but for lack of their own.
Friend, that’s true for us as well, isn’t it? If our spirits are marked by pride and envy today, if we seek the vain pursuits of earth over the Kingdom of God, we can’t turn around and blame the fact that life is a wilderness and the days are evil and enemies surround us on all sides, right? We’ve got a scrapbook of wonders as well and it’s a lifetime long! So don’t let your heart grow cold today. Nestle up on the stone hearth of Sinai and warm your spirit under the comforting, crackling fire of God’s presence. Wait there; rest there; remain there till the clouds of doubt and despair you carried with you into this day give way to fresh light.