Speaker: Genesis Acaye from BMS
Readings: Exodus 13:3; Deuteronomy 8:2; Psalm 77:11-12
This Week’s Thoughts
God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.
Goodness is an essential characteristic of God. He is not evil, nor can He be tempted with evil (James 1:13). One way that God made this goodness known to Israel was by forbidding judges from perverting justice (Exodus 23). And to humanity as a whole, God is so good that He sustains the saved and unsaved alike: “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness” (Matthew 5:45).
Though God is the ultimate good, we are all guilty of seeking His glory before His goodness. We want to see His might, just like Moses, who feared leading Israel and told God: “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here … I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:15-18). Yes, God’s glorious power means He can do anything, but He wills to do what is good.
So, having displayed His glorious power against Pharaoh, parted the Red Sea, and led Israel safely to Sinai, God cut a covenant with His people. The Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of time and space, chose a slave nation, freed them, nursed them in the desert, all so He might make Himself known to them. And how did Israel respond when Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law? They ‘assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Arise, make us gods who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Exodus 32:1).
When Moses returned, his reaction was severe. He smashed the 10 Commandments, ground the golden calf to dust, and forced Israel to drink their abomination. But when Moses went back up Sinai to beg forgiveness, God shocked him and responded with grace, saying: “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. But now go, guide the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you” (Exodus 32:33-34). Even after their betrayal, God refused to clean house and find a new people.
Understandably, Moses now had big doubts about the road ahead. The stiff-necked treachery of Israel was no small concern. This brings us to an all-important request: ‘Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:18).
Moses was desperate, and God was kind. He went from promising to send an angel to telling Moses that His very presence would go with Israel. But it still wasn’t enough. Moses was broken. He needed to see God’s glory, and boy did God show it … just not how Moses expected. God’s glory came with this declaration: “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion” (Exodus 33:19).
God showed His glory alright. He did it by revealing His goodness, His grace, and His unmerited compassion. Glory in Hebrew means heft and honour. It describes a weighty reputation, a vast wealth, or an untold splendour. But God’s glory is different and unique. God’s glory is tied to His divine kindness on lowly mankind.
This revelation wasn’t what Moses expected or even wanted, but it’s certainly what he needed. God reminded Moses, Israel, and all the redeemed of all the ages that His identity – His very name! – centres upon His mercy. We did not earn our salvation. Like ancient Israel, we were the least of people and the worst of sinners. Then God passed by us and said: “Live. Live! Come out of sin and be made alive in Christ!” And for that we are eternally grateful.