The Arrival

Did you ever notice how important a period of waiting is in The Bible?

In waiting three days, we, God's children are given time to anticipate and to prepare.  But what we prepare for may not be anything near what happens.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled.  Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain.  Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently.  As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder.  When the LORD descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. - Exodus 19:16-20

In today's reading, we have an earth shattering event, the arrival of God on Mount Sinai.  His coming is heralded with the blast of a trumpet and he descends with fire in a cloud of smoke.

Would you go out to meet him?

Before Moses ascended on that day, he had time to prepare the people, to share God's words with them and have them cleanse themselves, so they would be ready to meet God.

God had given them time.

We all have time that God gives us.  We are all in that reparation mode, that before time, when we should be getting ourselves ready for his kingdom.

But how are we spending our days?

God's arrival on the mountaintop was expected, but the manner of the arrival was not.  We will not know how he chooses to come to us, whether it will be in a cloud of fire or in a whisper, but he will come.

It may be all at once as the people discovered, or it may be one by one, each with his own personal encounter.  But each of us will have our moment.

It sounds ominous, I know, but it is a gift, a personal expression of God's love, that he take the time for each of us, and that he gives us time to prepare.

What we all have in common is our kinship as children of God.  Whether we believe our encounter with him is direct or through an intermediary or another form, in the end, our time of preparation will draw to a close and the day will arrive for us to meet.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we find a way to come together and be one people before that happens?

What if the chosen ones are the ones who choose to be one with each other and through that encounter, we find ourselves one with Him?

It is a thought.  If we remain separate and apart, we may just find ourselves on the outside when the invitations come to join Him on the mountaintop.

What do you think?

More to come...