A Glorious God and His Covenant People

Even though the Israelites were a stubborn and stiff-necked people, God did not give up on them. Instead, He restored them with outrageous grace. The people knew they did not deserve to have God’s presence in their lives, and they learned some essential lessons for how to respond to His grace.

An amazing scene is unfolding as we look at Exodus 34:1-7. The Lord descends to stand with Moses, and He announces Himself – who He is and what He is like. This is a great rundown of the Lord’s character; this is how we would describe Him to someone who asks, “What is God like?”

He is absolutely holy and righteous. He demands justice for sins against Him and He punishes sinners. BUT He is merciful to sinners, He is gracious, He is patient, and He has forgiveness for thousands. Watch how Moses reacts to that in Verses 8-10. Moses got some things wrong in his life, but this he gets right.

Based on what the Lord just said, Moses humbles himself and he asks for forgiveness. He doesn’t exempt himself from what His people did, but he owns it as a member of the group. And then he says, “Lord, go among us.” In other words, we want you to be with us, and we want to be with you because we need Your presence!

Then listen to what the Lord says in response. What a promise! God is going to do “marvels”, miracles for His people that others will see and know that He is the Lord!