After a slight hesitation, Chad said, "You know, it's God. He seems so close I feel like He's hugging me."
A brief silence met his words. Chad's friends were impressed, but uncomfortable. They broke into nervous chatter about something that happened at school. It's as if the thought of God scared them.
Actually that fear isn't all bad.
Just outside of the Washington DC beltway there's a place called Great Falls. It's a stretch where the Potomac River whams into a bottleneck of rocks. It crashes through them in a series of magnificent waterfalls. Every spring, schoolteachers bring their classes to Great Falls Park for picnics. First thing, the kids dash to the main viewing platform. Once there, the sight of the falls makes them halt in amazement. They cling to the safety rail, stunned by such power. Though awe-struck, they still stretch their heads and hands over the rail, wanting to feel the spray on their skin. This pictures the kind of fear we should feel for God. When one boy backed off, too scared to even stay on the platform, the others thought it strange. That pictures the wrong fear of God.
We don't have to run from God as long as we hug the safety rail. It's a double rail. The first rail is TRUST. We trust in Jesus Christ who died to set us free from the power and penalty of sin. The second rail is OBEDIENCE. If we don't obey the commands found in the Bible, we are like some other kids at Great Falls. After a while they stop being awe-struck by the falls. They start to clown around and dare each other to sneak outside the safety barrier, on to the rocks. People who fall from those rocks into that blast of water don't survive.
If you cling to God's safety rail, you'll be awe-struck by God, but you won't be afraid of Him. And what if you do fall into harm? You'll discover that, for His children, God isn't just a deadly force like the Great Falls. He is also Jesus reaching out to comfort and help you.
