We read the Old Testament and think that God is this mad man, who will kill you at the drop of a hat.

God tried to make a covenant with Moses and the children of Israel, but they did NOT want the covenant that God presented to them. They didn’t want this particular covenant with God, because the only “god” they knew, was Pharaoh. They knew if they obeyed the rules from Pharaoh, they got to live. That’s what they were used to. So, instead of a personal relationship with God they chose a covenant of rules.

What God really wanted was in Exodus 19:5–6 (YLT), saying, “And now, if ye really hearken to My voice, then ye have kept My covenant, and been to Me a peculiar treasure more than all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and ye—ye are to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation: these are the words which thou dost speak unto the sons of Israel.”

God wanted everyone to be a priest unto Him. This meant that everyone would have direct access to God, but they turned it down.

Deuteronomy 5:23–27 (NKJV) says, “[The People Afraid of God’s Presence] ‘So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said: Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’”

We still turn down things that God has offered us, thinking that we aren’t good enough, that we haven’t worked hard enough for it or that we don’t deserve it. We might not deserve it, but the good news is, you don’t have to! It’s called Grace.

We frustrate the grace of God by thinking we can do it all by ourselves. WE are the ones who have limited God because of the way people have treated us, the way we were raised, what we were taught about God, and how we filtered God through the wrong lenses.

It’s time to get new glasses and see the REAL God, who is an awesome Father.

-Pastor