So I was reading Exodus 19-20, where God speaks the 10 Commandments, and I was surprised by something...
God spoke the commandments directly to all of Israel???
I always had this image of Moses going up on the mountain in seclusion, with everyone else awaiting his return, and Moses takes some stone tablets up to the top of the mountain, and ZAP! God engraves the commandments on them with a bolt of lightning... then Moses comes back down and presents the commandments to the nation...
But the story I read in Exodus says that God actually came down from the sky in a cloud surrounded by lightning, and spoke to those who would come and listen... and not only that, when people actually heard God speak, they said "Oh, Moses, we're so scared! Please, don't let God talk to us any more... you go and talk to him and tell us what he has to say!"
As if Moses had the power to silence God! The only person who has the power to silence God is the person who won't himself listen... and I bet that person has that power only because God is restraining himself from forcing the issue!
Speaking of which, I think I need to listen more, and be less scared of what God might say...
