Have you ever wondered what God is like?
Moses, the leader of the Israelites, had a very close and personal relationship with God. One of the defining moments of Moses’ relationship with God occurred when God spoke to him from a bush that was on fire, but not being consumed by the fire. It was in that conversation that God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, despite Moses claiming that he was inadequate for the job. (Exodus 3)
Moses would go on to do just that, lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and be a nomadic people for 40+ years before God would lead them to settle in their own land.
Moses would frequently speak and meet with God. The Bible records many conversations that occurred between Moses and God. In fact it states that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. (Exodus 33:11)
There was however a limit to how God physically revealed Himself to Moses. One day Moses asked to see more of God.
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:18-23)
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. (Exodus 34:5-8)
I find it interesting that God proclaimed His character when He appeared to Moses. More important to God, than the experience that Moses had when he met with God, was that Moses knew who God was. It’s the same with us, God wants us to know who He is.
This description of God is repeated a number of times throughout the Bible
‘compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love’
While there are many additional descriptions in the Bible about God, all of these attributes describe a response to someone else – they describe God’s response to us which are an innate part of His character.
God is compassionate. Compassion can be hard to describe, but I think of it as valuing and loving someone regardless of their situation, who they are or what they have done. Compassion is an expression of unconditional love. God is compassionate towards us.
God is gracious. Grace is the free and unmerited favour of God. It is not treating us as we deserve, but loving us unconditionally, providing unconditional salvation that is not based on merit but on love, accepting us unconditionally and seeing us and treating us wonderfully. God is gracious towards us.
God is slow to anger. Yes, God gets angry as described in the Bible at the rebellion of humans against Him, but He is slow to anger. The first thing we encounter when we encounter God is not anger, instead it is love. We actually deserve God to be angry at us for our rebellion and total disregard and disrespect of Him. God is slow to be angry at us.
God is abounding in love. God is love. We can’t even begin to imagine the vastness and depth of God’s love to us. God’s love is personal, yes, He loves everyone, but He wants you to know that He loves you.
We can be confident that when we come into God’s presence, we will experience God as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love to us, because He is eternally the same – yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)
Just like Moses, God desires to have a close, personal, relational and conversational relationship with us. We can in fact come into God’s presence, and when we do, we are treated not like we deserve, but with compassion, grace and love from God who wants to start and continue a personal relationship with us.
Why wouldn’t you want to meet and get to know the God who created you and loves you so much and longs to meet with you? All it takes is a choice to believe…
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