5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 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, 7 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.” 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. — Exodus 34:5-8 NIV
From reading this scripture, God gives each of us time to change from our wicked and sinful ways. God gives us what seems like an exorbitant and long time to change our ways to a positive life in Christ because He knows our hearts and ourselves better than anyone, or better than we know even ourselves.
God gives us thoughts and ideas of compassion, and time to receive these thoughts of love for ourselves and others into our hearts and minds. He waits for us to filter from our doubts and fears those few positive moments we may have to truly hear Him.
So He is so slow to anger to give us His full wrath because of our sins and wickedness. He gives us time to come to our senses of what our purpose in life is in His purpose for us in this life.
However, He does chastise and punish the wicked in our practice of our sin. Our sins are passed on to our children and children’s children, and to those we hurt. As we struggle through our sins, and it is a struggle, we can be blinded to the effects of our sins to ourselves and the effects of our sins to others.
However, God is the only one who can truly change our hearts and minds to an abundantly fulfilled life free of sin and despair. He is “abounding in love and faithfulness.” I believe God’s abundant love gives us all, even the vilest sinner, every chance to a life of greater good.
For those who reject God in their actions and heart, they miss the chance to experience the best in themselves and others, and in the best of conscientious of life.
God Bless You All!
Brenda A. McGee has attended New York Theological Seminary in New York, NY, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA as a Master of Divinity student.
One Response to The Compassionate and Gracious God — Exodus 34:5-8 NIV