How would you react if you really heard the voice of God? Once there was a man who had the habit of going to a barn every evening, taking off his hat, and saying, "Howdy God, I am here." Then he would begin to preach to an empty barn. Some pranksters plotted to pull a trick on him. They hid in the barn, and when he said, "Howdy God, I am here", with a deep voice they answered, "Howdy, Jim, I am here." Well, Jim dropped his hat and took off, and never again was he seen at the barn.

When we confront the holiness of Jesus as Peter did, we will have a sense of awe and unworthiness before the purity and perfection of Christ. Peter fell on his knees and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Haven't we in the church lost something of this unworthiness in the presence of the holy Christ? It is not uncommon to hear no confession of sins in a worship service. If you come to the pure Jesus, why do you not instinctively say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner"?