The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”
Into the Text
If you were to describe God in three words, what would you say? The way we think about God is one of the most important things about us.
For some people, this is an incredibly hard concept to understand as they view Him as being an angry God or a distant God or something like a vending machine. We don’t have to wonder what God’s character is like. God reveals it to us here in Exodus. He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loyal love, faithful, and forgiving.
Why does it matter to have a right view of God? When we truly understand who God is, we are able to respond in trust, faith, and worship.
After the golden calf incident, God graciously gave the Israelites a second chance. He gave Moses specific commandments of how they were to live as His chosen people within the Promised Land.
If you were to read the commandments without understanding God’s character, you could easily conclude that God is vengeful and full of wrath. Instead, we know that God is merciful and gracious.
These commandments weren’t meant to keep the Israelites from having fun or doing what they’d like. Rather, they were meant to lead to their flourishing as they lived in the blessing of God’s grace and gifts.
The God we see in the Book of Exodus is the same God today. Our obedience and worship doesn’t come from simply following the rules. We obey and worship God because we know that we are infinitely loved by the God of the universe.
Prayer
God, thank you that you are compassionate, gracious, loving, and so much more. I pray that if there’s any part of me that has a wrong view of who you are that you would be at work in my heart to change my perspective. Amen.