29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34)
People were afraid to go near Moses. Understandably so. He had been with Holy God on the mountain. We are afraid we might catch something. Sometimes that affects us well: we keep our distance so we do not catch a virus or become a carrier. But there are times when someone being different, "having something", should actually cause us to draw nearer. Moses had the Word of God and a word from God that they needed to hear. So the passage goes on to tell us that Moses invited the leaders to come closer and hear what the LORD had to say. He did eventually put on "protective clothing" to make them feel more at ease, but what he had "caught" was actually something we should hope to catch as well. We should also beware an extremism when it comes to those we are afraid to be near; let us not become so distanced that we fail to show the love of Christ in an hour of need. God loves us and will let us know how close we should go.
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