Excerpt from Deuteronomy 5: 22 - 6: 3 

"For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and remained alive? Go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God shows you, and we will listen and do it."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

What this passage describes--a God so awesome and holy that it's just too much for us mere mortals--is becoming increasingly difficult even to imagine these days.

In the Bible, the Hebrew people find close encounters with God are more than they can handle. They need some distance. God is too awesome, too overwhelming, too dangerous. Encountering God, you may not live to tell the story. So they say to Moses, "You go. Go into God's presence for us. Then come back and tell us about it. It's too much for us."

"How sad for these poor, primitive people," we may think, "because I really feel on such close terms with God, just completely comfortable with God." And why wouldn't we? According to researcher George Barna, we've created God. "We are a designer society. We want everything customized to our personal needs--our clothing, our food, our education. Now, it’s our religion."  America is headed for "310 million people with 310 million religions."

"How sad for us poor, modern people," is what I'm thinking. Sad that in creating our own designer religion and gods, we lose another point of connection to what is larger than ourselves and to one another. What looks like freedom—designing  your own god—turns out to be greater isolation and disconnection.

But most of all, how sad that we cease to know, or better, to be known by, the Holy One who is beyond our imaginations and against our presumptions, the God who says, "My ways are not your ways, and my thoughts not your thoughts." The God who asks, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" Or as my friend John puts it, (in the sign on his refrigerator), "There is a God, John, and it's not you."

Prayer

Holy God, grant that I may fear you enough that I need fear nothing else at all; that I love you so much that I love nothing else too much. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

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