the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Exodus 19:16-25
When a small child maintains that he is able to do something impossible: for example, to lift a hundredweight sack, what does his father say to him? "Try!" It is only when the child has proved for himself, by his failure, that his father is right, that he is ready to trust his father to do the necessary thing in his place. That is the lesson which Israel will have to learn at mount Sinai. Do the people think they can do all that the LORD requires? So be it, they must be made to understand what His holy requirements are.
Hebrews 12 alludes to this scene (Hebrews 12:18-29), in setting out the contrast between "the mount that might be touched" and that of Zion, in other words grace, by which we are invited to come near. It is no longer Moses who is mediating for us on the mountain, but Jesus who is for us in heaven. "Wherefore", concludes the writer of the epistle, "let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." This fear of displeasing the Lord does not arise for us from rigid commandments, nor from rash commitments we may have made, nor as here from a solemn display of God’s power. It is the response of our hearts to His immeasurable grace toward us (Psalms 130:4).
