Exodus 34:5-9Amplified Bible
5 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses as he proclaimed the Name of the Lord. 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (faithfulness); 7 keeping mercy and lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].” 8 Moses bowed to the earth immediately and worshiped [the Lord]. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor and lovingkindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, please, go in our midst, though it is a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your possession.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
What is God Like?
A little boy was working hard on drawing a picture from his Sunday School and his daddy came up from behind, asked him what he was working so hard on.
The son replied, “Drawing a picture of God.”
His daddy said, “You can’t do that, son, Nobody knows what God looks like.”
But the little boy remained undeterred, continued to draw for several minutes.
Without stopping his work, he looked at his picture with satisfaction and said very matter-of-factly, held it in his daddy’s face : “They will in a few minutes.”
We may never know what God’s physical features are, but from the beginning, He does reveal His attributes to us so we can each know what He is about, like.
In Exodus 34:6-7, rather than painting a picture a visual description of God, he writes a list about God’s invisible qualities.
From this, we learn God is merciful and gracious.
Keeping mercy and lovingkindness for the thousands.
He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He is abounding in goodness and truth
He is longsuffering and willing to forgive.
Forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.
We also learn that God will not spare the wicked from punishment.
We also learn that God expects us to automatically respond to who He is with an attitude of repentance and with worship that is worthy of being in His Presence.
“Show Me Your Ways Lord, That I May Find Favor”
Exodus 33:12-13Amplified Bible
Moses Intercedes
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray you, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways so that I may know You [becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with You, recognizing and understanding Your ways more clearly] and that I may find grace and favor in Your sight. And consider also, that this nation is Your people.”
In Exodus 33:12-13, Moses asked God to teach him more about God’s ways.
Moses said,
“See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.”
In gracious response to Moses’ request for God to show him more about who He was, God shows Moses favor, God passes by Moses and proclaims the attributes about Himself, revealing to a much humbled Moses more about His character.
God wanted Moses (and us) to know that He is not an angry, impersonal God.
Instead, He is a God that loves us, unconventionally, while also being a just God who will hold His Children to account for their words and deeds and punish sin.
The result of God’s revelation to Moses was that Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped God because Moses knew all he needed to accomplish the task God had called him to do was to be in and remain in, the presence of God.
“Hear My Cry Lord, Show Me More of Your Ways”
When was the last time we cried out to God and said,
“Lord show me more of your ways?”
Just as God answered Moses, God will answer us today.
It might be through the Words of truth and life found through scripture that you read and study or in a sermon from your pastor or a song on the radio.
When our desire to know more about God is a longing that is from the heart, God will most abundantly, decisively, definitely and directly reveal Himself.
Where are the “Crying Christians?”
Isaiah 2:2-3 Amplified Bible
2
Now it will come to pass that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be [firmly] established as the [a]highest of the mountains,
And will be exalted above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
3
And many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house (temple) of the God of Jacob;
That He may teach us His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For the law will go out from Zion
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
“All nations” is one of my favorite phrases in the Bible.
God is an inclusive God. When he established a beachhead in our fallen world by starting a little nation called Israel, he was already thinking big.
God’s plan was to reach out through Israel to call all nations to himself.
Now, in 2023, Revival has broken out quite literally all over the world.
Thousands upon thousands are responding … they are crying out to God …
Onto the street Corners, into the streets of cities all across the globe …
Into College Campuses …
Into Churches whose pews had more accumulated dust than congregants.
Into malls and supermarkets …
Into the maximum security prisons …
Into the incarcerated for life hearts of violent life long criminals …
Into countries where Jesus Christ is not necessarily the most favored name.
The Word of God for the Children of God goes forth …
Repentance and Baptisms …
“Show us Your Ways, O’ Lord, that we may find Grace and Favor IN THY sight.”
Transformations …
The Message of Salvation through Christ and Christ alone.
God has a Plan …
Jeremiah 29:11-14Amplified Bible
11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. 13 Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and I will [free you and] gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
Jeremiah 29:13 says,
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
How bad do you really want to know more about the Exodus 34:6-7 God?
How badly do you want people to know more about the Exodus 34:6-7 God?
How much do you long for the presence of the Exodus 34:6-7 God to lead you to what He’s called you to do?
With what effort do you seek the Goodness and Mercy, the Slow to Anger and abounding in Steadfast Love, the Faithful and Forgiving and Max Truth of God?
What effort do you bring your Worship, cry out to God: “Show Me Your Ways?”
What strength of plea arises from your heart and soul: “If I have found Favor?”
What percentage of your prayer life includes … “That I May Know God’s Grace?”
What percentage of your heart is “firmly prostrated” before the Lord, your God?
What percentage of thy soul is “squarely grounded” in the life of Savior Christ?
Percentage of thy only hope is saturated in nothing less than the blood of Jesus?
God’s promise of a gospel that reaches “to the ends of the earth” is being realized (Acts 1:8).
All nations are streaming toward the mountain of the Lord’s temple—not by pilgrimage to a physical temple in Jerusalem, but by coming to Jesus, the one alone who fulfills the temple’s deepest meaning of God’s presence among us.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing right now within us.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing right now among us.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing within our homes.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing within our families.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing among our friends.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing among our neighbors.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing within our schools.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing upon, within our streets.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing upon, within our prisons.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing within our communities.
Praise God for all the amazing things He alone is doing within our country.
Praise God for the amazing things He alone is doing right now in our world.
And thank Him that in a tragically shrinking world we can yet experience, be a thriving community with fellow believers from across all cultures and nations.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 150 The Message
150 1-6 Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah!
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 