Undeserved Mercy

Undeserved Mercy

Exodus 34: 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. ² So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. ³ And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”

 

⁴ So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

 

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.”

 

⁸ So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

 

============

 

GOD tells Moses to cut two more tablets and bring them up the mountain so HE could write the ten commandments on them. HE also proclaimed who HE is and what HE does.

 

My Observations:

• GOD gave explicit instructions for Moses to come alone so HE could speak to him and give HIM instructions.
• GOD told Moses that he broke the tablets, showing him implied mercy.
• GOD said HE is the one who is “keeping mercy for thousands.”

 

What stood out to me was during GOD’s proclamation, HE mentions keeping mercy for thousands. I do not believe this is referring to salvation; rather, that GOD is so merciful, that there will be a small number of people who HE will show mercy on in a nontraditional way. In the book of Revelation, there was a number of people in heaven that could not be counted. But there will be some people in heaven who will wonder “How in the world did I get here?”

 

GOD shows us mercy for our sins. HE said so. BUT HE will also show mercy to some people who you and I would not think they should get mercy. That’s how merciful GOD is. But HE is very clear, that those who reject HIM fully, will not get HIS mercy.

 

The Canaanites flaunted their disbelief for generations. GOD would remember this blatant disobedience. But there were some who may have been innocent in their beliefs and chose to help the children of Israel versus attacking them. They may not have even knew why, but they were led by the SPIRIT.

 

Challenge

• Why does GOD remind Moses about his second trip to get the commandments?
• What has GOD shown you mercy for?
• Do you want the same mercy GOD is giving to you to be placed on your enemies?