Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” - Exodus 20:20 (ESV)
In our passage today we have an explanation for the tremendous thunder storms that followed Moses’ reading of the Ten Commandments to the people. The storms must have been more powerful than any they had seen for it caused great fear. Now they truly feared God and appeal to Moses to be the spokesperson between God and them. Although we often find the command to “Fear not” in the Bible, this is a different expression of the emotion. Moses compares the natural fear of a storm with awesome reverence – a kind of fear of God, for it is He who created the storm. God tested the people of Israel to give them a proper sense of fear of Him. Knowing the awful consequences of sin as they were just now receiving the Law with its instruction of how to avoid sinning and how they must deal with their sin. Before their obedience was this fear, as a motivation. Fear of God was what would prevent the people from following the sinful ways they were used to. God’s promise to us is to help us keep, in our hearts and minds, an awesome reverence of God.
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