Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, June 23, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
When I read about God being terrifying, I remember a scene from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The children find out that Aslan is a great lion and they ask, “Is he safe?” To which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe?...Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”
While I don’t hold with the idea that God is a bully whose function is to scare you into complying with human-created rules of conduct, I also don’t hold with the idea that God has no “teeth” to them. The process of growing through life—and making lots of mistakes—can be painful. God neither lets me off the hook for my bad behavior, but neither do they directly punish me for it. They let me experience the natural consequences of my actions, no matter how awful, and are waiting when I’m ready to come clean.
Of course there’s a little part of me that wants God to step in and harshly punish people who I perceive to be doing serious damage to other people, the environment, etc. I want God to be terrifying for those people so they’ll stop being so awful. Maybe at some point they will be, but that’s between God and them.
Am I afraid of God? In a good way or a bad way? Why or why not?
