Gtcotr/ss060213
I
usually try to steer clear of generalizations. You know, those generalizations
which lump people into stereotypes or pre-judged groups because they bear
resemblance or display certain common characteristics. Like what people say
about blondes for example … how blondes have more fun! What??? Were you
thinking something else people say about blondes?
How
about southerners; northerners; racial profiles; republicans; democrats; white
collar; blue collar; unions; men; women; the French; musicians; used car
salesmen; government employees; preachers; old fogies; young people today; how
about those people who usually dress all in black??? … Like my wife for
example.
You
can easily see that stereotypes and generalizations are seldom if ever
accurate. I remember all of the sudden being exposed to more and different people
types than ever before. When I got to boot camp I was amazed that people from
all over the nation were just like me. Sure there were some differences but
more than anything else, we were the same … except for those people from
Missouri.
At
first I didn’t put much stock in the notion that people from Missouri were
generally a bit more stubborn and hard to convince than regular folk but then I
got to know a few of them and that didn’t help my argument at all. I kind of
felt bad labeling a whole state full of people as being a bit “questiony” but
then came to realize that it wasn’t me labeling them … rather … they labeled
themselves. Do you know that Missourians even put “The Show Me State” on their
license plates and they hold “Show Me State Games” each year to celebrate this
attribute of their, a bit overdeveloped sense of “sit back and prove it to me
if you can” attitude.
Recently
I thought maybe Moses had a bit of that old Missouri grit himself. In fact, if
you will turn with me to Exodus 33 I’ll catch us up on what’s happening in the
life of Moses around that time.
The
year is near 1500 years Before Christ was born. Moses was a little over 80
years old and he had just led more than 600,000 Hebrew men on foot besides the
women and children and a mixed multitude of people and their animals (Exodus
12:37-38) out of Egypt and across the Sinai Peninsula. Some estimate in all,
not counting animals, there were reasonably 2 million people. Now let me give
you a mental picture of 2 million people walking together across a desert. If
they walked 100 abreast, the line would stretch out for over 15 miles. That’s a
lot of people to manage and certainly Moses had his job cut out for him … but …
Moses was also cut out for his job!
By
the time we get to the accounts of Exodus 33, the Children of Israel had been
in the wilderness for a couple of months and had been sustained by the daily
bread which rained down from heaven each morning for food and they drank water
which poured from a rock that followed them. These Israelites had heard the
voice of God and then they had angered Him by making and worshipping a golden
calf idol. Silly people …
A
few days earlier God had given Moses the first two tablets on which He had
written the Ten Commandments. Those tables of stone were broken by Moses in his
anger over the idol worship incident at Mount Sinai. God wanted to separate
Himself from these people at that point but Moses pleaded with Him and God
agreed not to leave.
Exodus 33:11 So the LORD spoke to
Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.
One
day Moses said to God:
Exodus 33
13 "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. And consider that this nation
is Your people."
Show me Your way … We find God’s
response to this request in:
Exodus 34: 1 And the LORD said to Moses,
“Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these
tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.”
Give
Me something to write on; The written word; God’s Word is His Way
The
way of God is still seen in the written Word today. Without regard as to how
many times it has been broken, how many idols have been made and worshipped …
God’s Word is a Word of redemption and God’s Word is still God’s Way. Give Him
your heart and there He will write His Word …
We always find the way in the written Word of God
A
second request Moses had of the Lord that day is found in:
Exodus 33
18 And he said, "Please,
show me Your glory."
Please show me Your
glory … For
God’s reply look with me in:
Exodus 34
5 Now the LORD descended in
the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6 And the LORD passed before
him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
7 "keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the
children’s children to the third and the fourth generation."
·
The
name of the Lord; The Glory of God is found in His Name
God’s
nature is in His name. Listen to God describing His Glory: The Lord, The Lord
God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth,
keeping mercy, forgiving iniquity and sin, justly judging the guilty from
generation to generation.
·
Today
we need not be confused: (Ask God …
He’ll show you!!!)
1. God’s Word is the
way.
2. The Glory of God is to
be merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth. He
keeps mercy and forgives iniquity and sin, but demands we repent or be justly
found guilty.
