Chambers/Utmost/2-12
주님은 나의 최고봉 | ⇐ 2月11日 | 2月13日 ⇒
2月12日
Classic: Must I Listen?
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. — Exodus 20:19
We do not consciously disobey God, we simply do not heed Him. God has given us His commands; there they are, but we do not pay any attention to them, not because of wilful disobedience but because we do not love and respect Him. “If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments” (RV). When once we realize that we have been “disrespecting” God all the time, we are covered with shame and humiliation because we have not heeded Him.
“Speak thou with us…: but let not God speak with us.” We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servants only. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak to us? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. If it is only the servant’s voice we hear, we feel it is not imperative, we can say, “Well, that is simply your own idea, though I don’t deny it is probably God’s truth.”
Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as a child of His whilst all the time I have been ignoring Him? When I do hear Him, the humiliation I have put on Him comes back on me – “Lord, why was I so dull and so obstinate?” This is always the result when once we do hear God. The real delight of hearing Him is tempered with shame in having been so long in hearing Him.
Updated: Are You Listening to God?
They said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." —Exodus 20:19
We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.
“You speak with us,…but let not God speak with us….” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”
Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.
한글: 주님의 음성을 직접 들으십시오!
모세에게 이르되 당신이 우리에게 말씀하소서 우리가 들으리이다 하나님이 우리에게 말씀하시지 말게 하소서 우리가 죽을까 하나이다(출 20:19)
우리는 의식적으로 하나님을 불순종하지는 않습니다. 단지 그분께 신경을 쓰지 않을 뿐입니다. 하나님께서는 우리에게 명령을 주셨고 그 명령은 언제나 그 자리에 있습니다. 그러나 우리는 그 명령에 신경을 쓰지 않습니다. 의도적으로 불순종하려는 마음 때문이 아니라 하나님을 사랑하지 않고 존경하지도 않기 때문입니다. “너희가 나를 사랑하면 나의 계명을 지키리라”(요 14:15). 하나님을 업신여겨왔다는 사실을 진정으로 깨달을 때에야 비로소 주님을 외면했던 자신에 대해 부끄러움과 비참함을 느끼게 됩니다.
“당신이 우리에게 말씀하소서. 그러나 하나님이 직접 우리에게 말씀하시지 말게 하소서.” 우리는 주의 종의 음성은 듣고 싶어하지만 하나님의 음성은 거부합니다. 우리는 사람들의 간증을 듣는 것은 좋아하지만 하나님께서 우리에게 친히 말씀하시는 것은 싫어합니다. 하나님께서 우리에게 직접 말씀하시는 것을 왜 그토록 두려워합니까? 하나님께서 말씀하시면 그 말씀에 순종하든지 불순종하든지 양자택일을 해야 하기 때문입니다. 그러나 주의 종을 통해 들으면 우리는 하나님의 명령으로 듣기보다 “아, 그것은 비록 하나님의 진리처럼 들리기는 해도 아마 당신의 생각이겠지요”라고 말할 수 있기 때문입니다.
하나님은 여전히 당신을 자녀로 대하시는데 당신은 항상 주님을 무시함으로써 모독해온 것은 아닙니까? 주님의 음성을 듣게 될 때, 주님을 모독했던 자신의 자세에 대해 큰 부끄러움을 느끼게 될 것입니다. “주님, 왜 저는 그렇게 무디고 고집이 세었던 것입니까?” 주님의 음성을 직접 듣게 될 때 우리는 자신을 향해 비참과 비통을 느낍니다. 주님의 음성을 듣는 진정한 기쁨은 너무나 오랫동안 그분을 듣지 않았던 부끄러움과 섞이게 됩니다.