Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." 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." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Exodus 20:18-21
These verses record the Israelites' reaction to the overwhelming sense of the divine presence. We are told that the people drew back, but Moses, on the other hand, drew near to the thick darkness where God was. There is something for us to learn from this twofold reaction. The thunders of Sinai had made Moses afraid too (see Hebrews 12:21), but his fear had the opposite effect from that of the people. How was this? There are two kinds of fear, then, inspired by the presence of the living God, craven fear, born of unsubmissive hearts and spirits, and godly fear that longs to draw near and worship, and fall down before Him. Israel's fear of the 'numinous' expressed itself as a desire to escape, in the kind of way in which Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves from the presence of God in the Garden, and for much the same reason. This is more akin than we might realise to the objection some people have against 'personal religion'; it is much too real for them, and makes them uncomfortable. They do not really want a living God at all, and they recognise in 'personal religion' a warning that they might be drawn inexorably into a commitment they do not want, and have no intention of making. This is how it was with Israel; in another minute or two they might have been committed irrevocably to this mighty all-consuming God. On the other hand, however, Moses found himself compellingly drawn into the darkness where God was. Moses was afraid, and he was not afraid. This is not something that can be explained so much as experienced. It is, paradoxically, at those times when we most fear God that we also love Him most and are most drawn to Him. O to be touched by the fear that draws us on and on into the mystery of the presence of God!