Exodus 3

God's powerful command along with His compassionate deliverance are what cause us to both fear and to love Him.

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:4-6

In the powerful and commanding presence of God, Moses feels fear. He feels fear because of God's power. God is saying, take your sandals off your feet because you are in my holy presence, separating God's power from our ordinary being. In a similar sense to the way that we are unworthy for the grace that Jesus Christ gives us, we are also unworthy to be in the presence of God. God's command here is related to how we show up in His presence, what is in our heart, what is in our mind, and the way that we are devoted to Him. I believe that when we remove the barriers between us and Him, such as taking the sandals off of our feet, removing the malice in our heart, and casting sin out of our life, then we can move closer to God. This is why Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again, defeating sin, Satan, and death, so that we can come near to God, allowing us to be close to Him. Jesus cleanses us.

Then the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Exodus 3:7-8a

God's compassionate deliverance is what makes us love Him. He is the one who sees us, who hears us, and who knows us when we are in pain, in suffering, and when we are generally just going through something that is defeating our wellbeing. He knows where we are, and He comes to deliver us out of these times and into the good places that are flowing with abundance, as good as milk and honey. God has so much compassion for us that even though He asks us not to draw near because we are unworthy, especially when we are outside of Jesus, He also works to deliver us. This is why He has given us His only son Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life, to be a perfect example for us, and then to willingly go to the cross and die for our sins. Rising again, defeating all evil, Jesus delivers us from our suffering to the good land. He delivers us from being people of this world to being people of God's kingdom. He has taken our sin and our suffering, defeated it, and He allows us to have peace beyond understanding and to overcome.

Leaving the study, I am grateful for the wisdom and understanding that God has put on my heart. I am always so impressed by the way that the Bible weaves itself together. Right here in Exodus, we see God and Moses, their relationship, and how it relates to our relationship with Jesus today. It shows the reason why we are filled with both a fear of God and a love of God, and it reminds me that God knows exactly what we are going through and that He will deliver us. There is always a purpose in whatever we are experiencing. We see that God tells Moses that He will be with him when he goes to Pharaoh, and that shows that even when we have fear and don't know exactly the path we are on, God will be with us and will show us where we need to be. I just want to exercise my trust in His deliverance.