A couple weeks back, I was not feeling well, and my little man was on a theme of “I need” 100x’s over and over. As I was getting his milk and crackers, he was crying and yelling, “I need.” I broke down and yelled, “I don’t feel good, Henry! Stop. I hear you. I need, I need, I need.” And we both had a bit of a meltdown. He got his milk and grahams, and I took a few deep breaths, returned to the table where I had been reading scripture, looked at my sweet son, totally content, he had his milk and cookies, and I immediately said, “I am so sorry, little buddy, I love you, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” He reached his little hand out to me and said, “It’s OK, Mommy, you get to try again.”
I was a bit dumbfounded, when had my sometimes impossible 3½-year-old become my wise counsel? How had this happened?
As I read in Exodus this morning, I saw a similar, “It’s OK, Moses, you get another chance,” spoken by God.
There had been a great disappointment. Moses had spent many (40 days) with God atop Mount Sinai, getting instruction on all manner of the law from God to His people. The people decided Moses had likely left, so they organized Aaron to make them a fake god idol to give the praise and credit to for the rescue from Egypt.
God saw what was happening and became angry, he sent Moses down off the mountain. As Moses came down, he witnessed such sin and transgression against God in the worship of the golden calf. There was dancing and laughing frivolity.
Moses rages, breaks the tablet with the 10 commandments.
There is a part in this story I did not remember. Moses calls to the people, “Who is true to me and follows God?” The sons of Levi came forth and stood with Moses. They are instructed to kill 1 brother, or family member to those who had denied their faith and loyalty. 3000 were killed that day, and the sons of Levi received a blessing from God.
In this section, they talk about the book of names, names being blotted out by God’s hand, and also several places the sins of the father onto 3 and 4 generations beyond.
Moses desperately wants to see God’s face, and an angel goes before Moses, and God does appear in a pillar. Moses is able to speak to and hear God, just not see His face. Seeing the face of God, no man can live.
Starting over, God’s instruction
- God is giving Moses an Appointment (the Lord appointed Moses)
- Be ready
- Morning is the time to be ready
- Go up the mountain (for us this may mean, open your scripture, do what leads you to my high path)
- Stand at the top of the mountain (now after the journey in scripture, stand quiet, wait on my will)
- Bring no one and no animals to graze (this is time just for you to be in the presence of God, it is not to be shared, remembering God has longed to share with you in a personal way)
- Moses shewed 2 tablets identical to the ones broken, so that God’s hand may once more give the law. (be ready with pen and paper in hand for God to speak to you and give you the law for our life, the messages for your day
It is then said the Lord descended in a cloud and passed by Moses’ face. God proclaimed
The Lord God is
- Pitiful
- Merciful
- Long suffering
- Very compassionate
- True
- Keeping justice
- Keeping mercy
- Tsking away iniquity
- Taking away unrighteousness
- Taking away sin
And so goes a conversation, Moses to God, God to Moses, about the plight and forgiveness of the peoples Moses was shepherding. The possibility of being made right once more in God’s eyes is laid out, and hope once more is restored.
God is a faithful God. He loves His children and wants for them to walk in His ways. His ways are the ways of truth, joy, and righteousness. Joy can be one of the intended outcomes of walking aligned with God, but the biggest intention is that we are living in His Mercy and His Grace.
