Tag: i was afraid

50.o. Wilderness – 14.u. “For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure”

 

 

Deu 9:17-21  So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also. And the LORD was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

Moses broke the tablets, “Not by an unbridled passion, but in zeal for God’s honour, and by direction of God’s Spirit, to signify to the people, that the covenant between God and them contained in those tables was broken and made void, and they were now quite cast out of God’s favor, and could expect nothing from him but fiery indignation and severe justice.” (Poole)

When he saw the sin of Israel and knew the holiness of God, Moses was very afraid for the sake of the people of Israel. Aaron’s sin was so bad, that he surely would have been destroyed by the LORD – except Moses prayed for him. This shows both the prevailing power of Moses’ prayer and the great love in the heart of Moses. Moses burnt the idol, ground it up, and sprinkled it in the people’s drinking water for three reasons.To show this god was nothing and could be destroyed easily. To completely obliterate this idol.To make the people pay an immediate consequence of their sin. (Guzik)

And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands,…. In wrath and indignation at the sin they were guilty of: and brake them before your eyes; as an emblem of their breach of them by transgressing them. Because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger; for they were guilty of more sins than one; besides idolatry, they were guilty of unbelief, ingratitude, &c. which were notorious and flagrant, were done openly and publicly, in sight of his glory and majesty on the mount; all which must be very provoking to him, and on account of these Moses prayed and fasted. (Gill)

A proper view of the sinfulness of our sin(s) should humbly drive us to our knees.

168.  Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.

1 Kings 20:30   Ben-hadad also fled and entered an inner chamber in the city. And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.” So they tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me live.’” And he said, “Does he still live? He is my brother.” Now the men were watching for a sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot. And Ben-hadad said to him, “The cities that my father took from your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.  And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down. Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him. So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. And he said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’” And the king of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen and came to Samaria.

Job 15:6    Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.

Matthew 21:41-43     They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?  Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

Matthew 25:24-27   He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,  so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’  But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?  Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

Luke 19:22     He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?

“So shall your judgment be, you yourself have decided it”, “your own mouth condemns you”, “the Kingdom of God will be take away from you.”, “I condemn you with your own words”, “Your own lips testify against you”   What are we to expect when our walk with God is lukewarm at best?  What are we to expect when we are complacent and neglectful with God’s word?  What lies do we believe that convince us that living with our heart living for what the world has to offer and only giving lip service to God?  What are we doing or not doing that is testifying against us?  How will we know?  I’ll tell you when we spend more time in His word with a desire to honor and glorify Him.  When we seek more to know and do His will rather than self-satisfying acts resulting from blindly going through life as though we have no need to change, repent, be renewed.  Do we need to be struck by lightning or something else to make us committed with our full heart, mind, and soul?  God’s word will only have an impact on a heart, mind, and soul that is intentionally choosing God over self.  Without a heart deep desire to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, obey, trust, and rely on God I fear we will end up going through life with our own lips and actions testifying against us while we are blind to it.