Holding on to Egypt

When Israel camped at Mount Sinai, they were suddenly engulfed by thick darkness and an incredible, blazing fire. Out of the midst of these awesome elements, God spoke: “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice…” (Deuteronomy 5:22, NKJV).

While all this was happening, the Israelites stood frozen with fear. They were convinced they would die before the voice of the Lord stopped speaking. Finally, the voice stilled, the lightning stopped, the quaking ended, and before long, the sun began to shine. As the people looked around, they saw that everyone was still alive. They had heard the actual, audible voice of God and lived!

Israel’s elders and tribal heads called a meeting. You would expect this to be the greatest praise meeting in the history of humankind. Yet this meeting was not one of praise; instead, the elders told Moses, “We can’t handle this kind of experience. We don’t want to hear God’s awesome voice anymore. If he speaks to us this way again, we’ll die. From now on, we want to hear his words through a man’s voice.”

Their response is absolutely puzzling. Why would anyone react this way to such a glorious miracle of God? Because the Israelites had hidden sin in their hearts. They were secret idol worshipers. They still clung to the small golden idols they had brought with them from Egypt.

The apostle Stephen said these idols were “images which you made to worship” (Acts 7:43). The Israelites had carved them in the likeness of the giant golden calves the Egyptians worshiped. They had not let go of their horrible idolatry.

Stephen was amazed that, even after the Lord had spoken to them audibly, their hearts remained in idolatrous Egypt. He said of them, “Our fathers would not obey… and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt (Acts 7:39). 

You can understand why God’s voice made these people quake. The reason they thought they would die was that they were in the presence of a holy, powerful God, not some lifeless, carved idol. His Spirit had gripped their souls, and their consciences were convicting them.

Beloved, the glorious voice of God is life-giving. When we turn our hearts away from sin and fully to him, we can receive his presence with peace instead of fear.